Surviving in a Video Game
by Soberman
Summary: So you know how those other SIs go. Person gets dropped into another universe yada yada. Some of them are lucky and they get some kind of power boost or maybe even they've had past experiences that help them in the new world. Myself, on the other hand, am not that lucky. I'm dropped into the world of Fire Emblem: Awakening with nothing more than my head to help me survive.
1. Into the Unknown

**So another self insert coming from me. Real shocker there right? Anyways, unlike my FFVII one this one is a true blue self insert. I'm not holding any punches with this one. The main character of this fic is me inside and out. Not even going to hide it so there. Fake name of course. Not going to go giving that info out. It is a different fake one than my other fic though so that I don't go mixing the two up.**

**Well, let's not listen to me ramble. Here's that there first chapter.**

**Italics will be my character's thoughts and ****/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Into the Unknown**

_Ugh. My college work is finally over. Well, not exactly over so much as now I can have a break from it._

_It's about time that I can finally be able to lay myself down and not have to worry about anything. _

Climbing into my bed, I stretched slightly before plopping my head onto my pillows.

Most people say my bed is to stiff and that they can't understand how I manage to sleep in it. I say that my bed is perfectly fine the way it is. Its length is just right for my height of five foot seven. Not to mention that I never have a problem with finding a nice sleeping position on it. Also, the stiffness of the bed goes completely unnoticed by me. All I say is that it's better than sleeping on the floor.

Not feeling quite up to fall asleep just yet, but still wanting to relax in bed, I adjust my position until I'm lying flat on my back.

In a loss for what I should be doing, I run my hand through my brown hair. I noticed that it's getting long again and wonder if I should go for another hair cut during the weekend. I haven't let my hair get long ever since I had let it grow for an entire year. Instead, I was going for a different style. Normally cut all around, hair flat on the back of my head, and then the front is standing up. It's not something I'd usually do, but I figure why the fuck not?

_Might as well think of something to do right? At least if I don't come up with anything then I'll just be able to pass out in the comforts of my bed. So there's always trying to get the lazy bastards of friends that I have to do something. Nah, I'm too lazy for that. Well, there's always work the parents might want me to do. Actually, they haven't told me to do anything today so I guess I'm free from that. Maybe I could do some work on the various fanfictions I have going. I don't really having anything in mind so that can't be a possibility. I'll definitely jot something down if it comes to me._

_Should I maybe just play something on my 3ds in the meantime? There's always Fire Emblem Awakening. No, no, no. This sounds like a cheesy opening to a self-insert fanfiction. Not that I haven't done one, it's just that the whole start playing a game because I have nothing else to do sounds like the cliché that's everywhere. Next thing I know, I'm going to find my face getting sucked into one of the 3ds screens._

_No, sleep sounds like the best thing to do. My lazy ass deserves it after all the damn college work I've been put through. _

_Just going to close my eyes and enjoy the peaceful feeling of sleep. Here's to not having any funky dreams. The last one was a doozy and I don't plan on going through that again._

Slowly, I find myself nodding off in the comforts of my room. Within minutes, I'm out cold.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

_Ugh. Is it morning already? There's a direct stream of sunlight shining in on my face from a window so I'll take that as a yes._

In an attempt to loosen myself up, I stretched in my bed and let out a loud yawn. My hands rubbed out the sleep in my eyes and I sat myself up in my bed. That's about when things starting looking weird.

First of all, I shouldn't have been woken up by sunlight at all. I keep my blinds in my room closed all the time so no amount of sun should've touched me. Instead, this window was being only partially blocked by some long red curtains. A slight crack in them was allowing the shining sun to penetrate through.

Things only get weirder. The room I'm in is hardly what I'd call my room. See, I usually have a rather messed up room. Clothes would be scattered about carelessly along with my schoolwork. It's what most people would probably call a room for a slob. This one, however, was kept neat and tidy. Not a single thing was out of place in the entire room.

On top of that, there was an extra bed in here. Nobody was in it, but that doesn't change the fact that there were two beds. Two twin sized beds that looked a lot like straw mattresses.

_How in the world did I manage to sleep on this crap? Oh wait, my bed is probably just as stiff as this stuff._

_Hold on! I shouldn't be questioning how I slept on this crap! I should be wondering how the hell I got in this bed! Not to mention why I'm in an entirely different room than my own!_

_Are those candles on the nightstands? And this room is far beyond modern architecture. There's no dry wall anywhere in here. It's either stone or something else. I'm not too keen on architecture. That doesn't change the fact that this room is not normal!_

_W-Wait. What. Am. I. Wearing? I'm definitely not wearing my old clothes that's for sure. Nor are they anywhere near what I'd consider normal attire._

_I'm guessing I'm wearing some kind of gray leather pants? What's with this red shirt? It feels loose but it also feels like it's sticking to me. Ah, that's why. I'm wearing a belt I guess, and somebody tucked in my weird red shirt?! Pull this out now! _

_What's this on my back? Do not tell. It is. It's a fucking dark grey cape. Give me this. If anything, this cape is getting wrapped around my waist instead. I'd rather look like I'm trying to cover my ass than impersonate a bad superhero. _

_And of course it wouldn't end there right? I would have a stupid white bandana wrapped around my forehead. Take this crap off. I'd rather use it as a handkerchief than wear it. Pocket it for later._

_Ok, assess the situation. Either I've been kidnapped by some cruddy renaissance fair people or this is a sick prank being made by some shit head friends. No matter which one it is, I'll be happy to get the hell out of this crap._

_Better to find a way out of this hell hole before I go crazier. I'll just head out the door and get out of here. Huh, I guess I'm upstairs. Well, I'm going to head down the stairs and then I'll get out of here!_

Going down the stairs led me to something strange. There was a bald man in medieval style clothing as well. He seemed to be behind a bar cleaning a couple of glass mugs. Behind him were barrels as well. Across from the bar were a few tables that were completely devoid of people and utensils.

The middle aged man looked at me after hearing my footsteps. He gives me an odd look and asked, "Excuse me, sir. Exactly what were you doing up there? I don't quite remember renting out one of my rooms."

_Dear god. Don't tell me he's in on it too. _

Feeling rather upset at being forced to participate in this, I proceed with my original plan of getting the fuck out of here. As I walk away, I hear the barkeep start to almost shout, "Hey! Where do you think you're heading?! I'm not done talkin'!"

Before he gets more enraged at my lack of a reply, I decided to humor the guy. I waved back as I walked away and said in a sarcastic tone, "Don't worry, my good sir. I'll get right onto paying whatever I owe as soon as I get a hold of my pouch of gold."

I exited the door to his made up establishment, and here him shout in a rage, "Stop! Damnit. I'm going to grab the city guards!"

As I exited onto the streets, the barkeep started to sprint down one direction of the street. I might've kept thinking he was crazy if I wasn't so left in awe.

_They. They built an entire town? There are so many people. The street is being covered with a bit more people than I would imagine anybody could get to do any stupid fair or prank for that matter._

_I can't be. No, no. I shouldn't be! There can't be any way this is possible!_

Out of confusion, I started to briskly walk down the street in a similar fashion to the barkeep. Except, I wasn't running nor did I want to find any guards. No, I wanted to find my way out of this place.

_Please just let me know that I've been kidnapped by Amish people!_

My brisk pace soon started into a full blown sprint as I realized just how far the town stretched.

_Horse carriages? Market stands? Even water wheels in the river? No, no. This has to be a damn dream. It must be!_

After running for who knows how long, I stop to take a breather. I then slap myself and get a few odd looks from the people around me.

_This can't be right. I can't be in some kind of medieval world. There's just no possible way for that to happen right? It must be a dream. It just must._

With my confusion seemingly not ending, I'm left to stand in the middle of the street of this town as other villagers pass me by. Some ask if I need aid. Others point and whisper thoughts of my insanity. These all vanish, however, when a multitude of screams and shouts are heard in the distance.

The people around me and I looked in the direction of the source. Shortly after, a couple of panicking villagers came running down the street. One stumbled in her attempt of running and falls quickly to the ground. A rather tough looking individual came to the woman's aid and helped her to her feet.

The man has a rough beard and an even rougher face. It almost makes one wonder how he managed to have such soft looking blue eyes for the rough exterior he donned on the outside. His muscles are far from what one would call normal. It doesn't help that he apparently has them on display considering his white leather vest. He could easily out bench press me anytime of the day considering my twig arms. There's also what appears to be a short sword strapped to the man's back in some kind of leather sheath. He definitely means business.

"What is going on?" the tough individual asked the panicking woman.

"The church! The church! There's bandits at the church! They murdered the guards and are ransacking the village! They're murdering people!" the woman with brown hair shouted out quickly.

Surely enough, the woman's story is far from not believable. Every person in the vicinity that heard her looked in what I'd presume is the direction of the church and there's smoke rising in the air. Also, the amount of running people probably means they aren't handing out pumpkin pie over there.

Of course this news doesn't bode well with the townspeople. Most individuals drop what they're doing and run in the immediate opposite direction of the smoke. Others grab their children to assist them in the getaway. Some crazy minded individuals run back towards the now burning church shouting things about having to help.

The burly man is no different. He rubbed his hand through his short black hair and then gritted his teeth.

"Damn brutes. Have they no dignity?!" the man yelled as he draws his short sword.

He started to head for the church when he passed by me. He stopped and looked at me for a moment as if he was expecting me to react to have a different reaction to all of this. All I can think of doing is to get the hell out of here, but the entire situation is just too strange. It's not every day you're in a burning village. How the hell would I know how to react?!

"Well, are you just gonna stand there with your head up your ass or are you going to help these poor people?!" He asks in anger.

His voice broke my stupor and I attempt to answer him as best as I can but words escaped me.

He let out a disgruntled grunt before he yelled to me, "Get your ass moving before I move it out of here for ya!"

The burly man then started back in his sprint for the church with his short sword at the ready.

There was hardly time for me to come to a decision. My gut was telling me to run away. It was the smartest idea. I have no kind on how to use a weapon. Why the hell would I go to defend others when I can't even defend myself? The thing is, however, that thought really pissed me off. How can I just stand here and give out excuses like that? Those people over there didn't ask to be attacked. If I was in there situation right now, I would want anybody to help me. Regardless of how well armed they were. Any kind of help is help.

Feeling stupid and incredibly mad, I clenched my fists and decided I'd give it a shot.

I may be about to get myself killed but I might be able to save someone else in the process. This kind of stuff isn't my cup of tea, but, then again, I don't think it's anybody's cup of tea in the first place. Heroes are just forced to drink the crap to get it done with. If there's nobody to drink the crappy tea, then we're left with no heroes. So give me that bloody cup so that I can chug it because my idiocy has taken over.

In an idiotic move for the future wellbeing of my life, I started to run down the road in the direction of the burning church. The sounds of people's scream continue to fill the air as I try to block them out.

_I'm coming to save you so how about you shut up! There's no need to make me start second guessing myself!_

Quickly, the screams get louder as I near the source. Buildings around me are also on fire so that's a good sign that I'm on the right track.

_Thanks burning buildings. No, wait. Burning buildings is a bad sign. Don't thank the burning buildings._

I get closer and closer to the area of shit as the church slowly comes into my view. Before I can get any closer, however, I noticed the burly man from before hiding behind a building with his sword at the ready. He heard my footsteps and turned to look at me as I came running towards him. Before I can continue to run any further, he motioned for me to stop and come to him. I do just as I'm told and ducked behind the smoldering building with him.

He gave me a strange grin as he said, "So you came anyway. Good man."

Being the out of shape person that I am, in my out of breath state I replied to him, "Yeah, well. It didn't bode well in my head leaving people to die."

He continued to grin at me as he sized me up. He then peaked around the buildings corner again before looking back to me.

He said in a nervous tone still grinning, "Well, can't say you'll do much good here. Maybe you should've bolted when you had the chance."

_Thanks. That's really nice knowing that I'm essentially useless and that I should've just saved my hide instead of doing this stupid crap._

He noticed my dejected look I had donned and gripped my shoulder. The guy mustn't know his own strength or I'm just extremely fragile because this kind of hurts. The man then said, "Don't worry, kid. If you don't want to do it, then I can handle these chumps. Besides, if you leave then that just means a bigger reward for me!"

The bearded man let out a small laugh before I brushed his hand off.

"Don't go calling me a kid. I'm eighteen, pal. Also, if you could handle these guys so well, then how come you're hiding?" I asked with a questioning glare.

He stopped his small laugh as he gave me a sheepish grin. He then rubbed his head while he said, "So ya noticed huh? I'm not going to lie, kid. There's a lot of them. I'm not too worried about besting one or two of them in a fight but that's where I draw the line of my skills. It's not looking up for us."

"Is there anybody else that's going to help us? I saw a whole load of other people running this way!" I said in a shocked tone.

_We can't be the only ones, can we? There's a good ten or more of them out there! Me and beard man can't take that on!_

"Afraid not, kid. I saw the number of people heading this way as well. Either they got lost or they ducked out at the last minute," the burly man replied with a frown.

"What about the guard? I heard this town had one!" I said trying to think of any help.

"See that over there?" the man asked while pointing around the corner. He pointed off to a pile of five or so bodies piled up next to the church. They were bodies of men that were fairly well armored. It was the guards of this town.

"That's what happened to the guards. They might've cut down these guys numbers a little but they were in the same situation as you and I," the man said with an even deeper frown.

"That's it? That's how big the guard was?" I asked myself quietly.

The man heard my whispers and gave me another strange smile. He then answered, "That's actually a rather large guard for a town this size."

His smile then shrank again as he looked back to the group of bandits. His face formed a scowl as he said, "That, however, is an oddly sized group of bandits. Far too large for what I've seen around these parts. Plegian by the looks of it."

_Please don't tell me he said what I think he did. I'm going to pretend like he didn't and just continue on with the immediate problem we're facing. The fact that both of us will probably die if we try to fight._

"T-Then we should get out of here! We stand no chance!" I said in fear.

_I knew this idea was stupid! Somewhere in my head I convinced myself that I could do this. That I could be a stupid hero. How wrong was I? This isn't some dream! This is real fucking life! I'll get my insides ripped out if I try to fight these guys!_

The man with the beard looked at me puzzled. He then responded with, "And leave the town to them? I don't think so. This town is a favorite resting spot of mine. Like hell I'll let these guys tear it up."

"Then what are you doing hiding?! They're just going to kill more people why you hide, you know!" I said in anger.

"I'm strategizin' here. Running in head first will only get you killed," the man retorted back.

Just then, a scream of pain came from the church again. Both the bearded man and I looked around the corner to see what was happening. Of course, there was one of the bandits kicking a man on the ground. The bandit was laughing joyfully as the middle aged man clutched his gut.

It was hard to discern, but I could recognize the man on the ground. It was the barkeep.

_No, no. He's a tavern owner not a barkeep. The tavern owner from before that was angry at me. He must've run into these guys while looking for the now deceased guards._

The bandit picked up the tavern owner and held him up by the collar of the man's shirt. He punched the tavern owner in the side before throwing him to the side while laughing maniacally.

My friend, the beard man, noticed how I was looking at the scene. He asked me, "You know that man?"

"Y-Yeah, he was the tavern owner of the one I stayed at. The one that I didn't pay for," I replied quietly.

The burly man with me then looked back at the barbarians as he asked, "What's your name, kid?"

"I'm not a kid! And what's with the sudden interest in names?! If we die here, then our names aren't going to matter or anything!" I shouted in protest.

"I like to know the names of people I might be fighting beside. It shows trust. Trust that will aid us on the battlefield. My name's Auden," he said before gripping his short sword with both of his hands.

_Seriously? This guy's serious? He's fucking serious?!_

"Now or never, kid. It's either your name or I'm going in solo, " he said while getting ready to make a run for the closest bandit.

_Well, I only have two options, don't I? It's either I abandon Auden that's been kind enough to converse with me in this hectic scene, or I humor him by giving him my name and try to keep both of us alive somehow. _

_To hell with it. If he's going to try, then I'm not backing out now. Maybe this will be a good way to repay that tavern owner for my lack of rent payment._

_I wonder how well my name will fit in this medieval style place. Especially if it's where I think it is. Ah, fuck it. Fake names are overrated anyways._

"My name's Vincent. Since we might die here, I'll let you call me Vince just this once," I said before standing behind Auden. The guy's pretty tall so I have to look around him to see what's in front of him.

"Thanks for being so kind, Vince. How about we teach these scoundrels why they shouldn't mess with Southtown!" Auden yelled as he went straight into the fray.

_My lord. It really is what I think it is. I'm stuck in fucking Fire Emblem: Awakening. This is just my damn luck. Where the bloody hell is Chrom then!? Fuck it! I've got to help Auden!_

Auden charged forward with decent speed and took a Plegian bandit completely by surprise. He slashed his sword right through the Plegian's chest killing the poor bastard almost instantly. This guy wasn't kidding about being good.

His attack isn't received kindly, however, as two of the bandits ahead of us take notice and come charging forward. Auden merely smirked in response.

The bandits were off sync in there charge and Auden took advantage of it. As one of them came into attack him on his left, he sidestepped to the right dodging the attack. He then continues his steps into a spinning cut that slices directly into the bandit charging on his right. The Plegian bandit let out a few gurgles as he coughed up blood before he slumped to the ground.

_The guy's a damn badass!_

"Vince, watch out!" Auden shouted to me.

I stopped admiring his handy work as I notice the bandit he dodged is instead coming after me now! He's aiming to decapitate me with his axe!

_Uh. Uh. D-Dodge!_

By the skin of my teeth, I manage to duck under the bandits attack. It wasn't a good dodge though. I stumbled in my dodge and barely made it behind the guy. In an attempt to get as far away from the bandit as possible, I continued as far as I could in my stumble before I had to stop and recover my posture. We were a good ten or so feet away from each other now.

_Auden's already dealing with two other bandits so there's no way I can assist him. No, I should be worried about myself right now. This guy's going to kill me if I don't do something about it!_

"Hey, come over here. I'm going to fucking kill you!" the Plegian bandit said in a gruff voice.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm not coming over there," I replied back.

"Fine. Stay where you are then. I'm going to come over there and chop off your fucking head!" the Plegian bandit said before coming towards me again.

Not having anything else to possibly try, I turned around and started running. Sure enough, the bandit was giving chase.

There was enough open area around the church that I could run unimpeded. Also, the bandit wasn't as fast as I thought he might've been. I could totally out run him. This was my best idea as I couldn't see any other way of dealing with this guy.

Quickly, I realized that I'm just running in circles with this guy as I notice Auden still fighting two bandits. He seemed to be having a bit more trouble with those two then the others. The element of surprise was no longer on his side and now it was up to his skill t dispatch of the bandits.

Strangely enough, I figured we'd be getting swarmed.

_Where are the rest of the bandits at? There was at least another five or so of them by my count. The only one left is the one in front of the church. He looked like the bandits leader which is what I'd equate to this chapter's boss._

_Damnit! Where the hell is Chrom and the stupid Shepherds!? Never mind that! I need to find a weapon! I can't run forever! Hell, I'm still exhausted from all the other running I've been doing! At this point, adrenaline is what's keeping me alive._

_Have to find a weapon. W-Wait! What about one of those guys Auden already killed? One of them have to have a weapon! _

I made a quick b-line for one of the dead bodies and searched for a weapon. There was in fact a weapon on the bandit's body! It was just a giant axe is all.

_No problem right? I can lift that. What is this? Iron? I got this._

_Ok this is a bit heavier than I expected. What is this? Twenty pounds? How weak am I? Note to self; start working out if you make it out of here alive. Crap. The bandit is getting closer to me! Ok, just lift up the nice axe so that it can protect you from the bad man._

I managed to lift up the axe as the bandit chasing me closed in. When he got close enough, he brought his axe down towards me in an overhead swing.

That shit will split my head open! Dodge!

I sidestep the attack but not in time. The axe gets dropped right in my left shoulder and it cuts deep. I can almost feel myself losing motor capability in my left arm. Not to mention that I can feel all the excruciating pain running through my body right now.

I let out a scream of pain as the bandit laughs maniacally in my face. Auden heard my scream and looked back to me because of it.

"Vince!" Auden shouted in concern.

My pain, however, was only a distraction for Auden as one of the bandits he was fighting gets a swing with his sword on him. The attack hit Auden's arm but he quickly recovers and retaliates with a strike of his own.

_Focus. You're the one in trouble, not Auden. _

With my axe still being held in both of my hands and slumped down to my right side, I will myself to us whatever strength I have left. In a desperate attempt of survival, I swing my axe in an upward arc for the bandit in front of me.

The bandit was a little too lost in the enjoyment of my pain to notice this, however, and gets struck directly in the left side of his chest with my axe. I lose my grip on it with my left hand, and my axe gets effectively stuck in him.

The shock of pain caused him to jerk his own axe out of me extremely quickly. The sudden removal of it sprays out my blood into the air. It's a sight that I can barely stomach.

The bandit continued to shout out in pain as he yelled, "Fucking bastard! You piece of crap! I'm going to really kill you now!"

_Good to know we were only pretending before._

He raised his axe up into the air again to go for the killing blow. His windup of the attack was slower than expected. Maybe it's because of my axe still being lodged in him. The pain might be hampering his ability to effectively move. I know his attack has left me fucked up.

_I know that his attack is going to kill me. The thing is, I don't want to die. Dying isn't something I exactly look forward to. It's just that there isn't anything I can do. I'm trying to get my axe out of him or at least to cause enough pain to him for him to stop, but I can't manage to get it to budge. Wait. I'm fucking stupid. Dodge!_

I let go of my axe and gripped onto my left arm with my right hand as I jump to the right. The bandits axe misses me entirely and he ends up hitting the ground instead.

_Man, Piccolo would be pretty disappointed in me if he was my mentor. Always. Fucking. Dodge._

"Damn you! Hold fucking-" the bandit was cut off abruptly as a bolt of lightning struck his back.

He stood motionless for a few seconds before falling lifeless to the ground. Behind him stood a man with white hair kept just above his eyes. He wore a black cloak that concealed most of his body. In one of their hands they held a book as lightning sparked around the other the individual had pointed at me. Also, he had a sword held in a sheath on his side.

"There's wounded over here, Lissa!" the cloaked man yelled back to a blonde girl with pigtails.

"Right! I'm coming right away!" Lissa shouted in response to the cloaked man as she ran over with some kind of staff.

_Thank sweet buttery Jesus. It's the damn Avatar and the others. I don't. I don't know if I could go on any longer than that. Blood just doesn't. Sit well. With me._

In a sudden moment, I collapsed to my knees and regurgitated whatever I had left in my gut. It wasn't a pretty sight, but neither was the one I was currently dealing with. Blood, dead bodies, and the still present battle of death happening around me. It's nothing something a modern day guy like me can take easily.

_I wonder if I might've dealt with this better if I joined the military like those recruiters always wanted me to do. No, I'd probably just be a better runner by now. I'd still be in boot camp considering my age._

The Avatar saw my poor state of health and rushed in front of me to defend against any oncoming attackers. At about the same time, Lissa made it too, and started to heal my wounds with the power from her staff I'd assume.

The wound on my shoulder started to seal up and let me say that this only seemed to cause more pain. I shifted my left arm slightly while the process went on, but that only seemed to upset Lissa.

"No, no. Don't move. You have to keep still if you want this to go easy," she said with a frown.

I merely nodded in response and held my left arm in place with my other arm. As my wound was almost completely healed, I looked over to where Auden was again. My concern for his wellbeing was surprisingly high. I had only just met the guy, but I felt like it would be my fault if he was injured.

Without a doubt, Auden was still locked in swordplay with the two bandits. His attacks were getting slower as were the bandits. Both of the parties were wounded for sure. For Auden, it appeared that his left arm had a cut running the entire length of it. Blood seemed to be pouring directly out of his wound leaving a trail of where his fight has led him.

He has been fighting two bandits for a few minutes now. One axe wielder, and another sword wielder.

_I wonder if the game's triangle works here. If that's so, then he should be equal with the sword wielder and have an advantage over the axe swinger. Of course, I don't recall enemies being able to pair up in the game so maybe I should throw that idea out the door._

The axe swinger came in for an attack at the same time as his sword wielding friend. His axe swung down while his friend went in for a thrusting attack. Auden didn't falter. He stood in the vicinity of their attacks and braced himself. This had me worried. He was either giving up, or he wanted to take their attacks head on.

Worried for what could become of Auden, I looked for the Avatar to see if he could provide assistance. Sadly, he was already preoccupied with keeping me and Lissa protected from another bandit. The two were engaged in a heated sword fight. My pleas of help would only get him injured.

My own wound had then sealed completely leaving only a scratch on my left shoulder. That was when Lissa looked to see where she might be needed.

_Damnit, Auden. The fuck are you doing!?_

Sure enough, the axe and sword neared his body. He was definitely going to get hit. Just as the axe was going to hit him, however, something surprising happened. Or at least, surprising to me. Auden parried the axe with his own sword and quickly sliced the axe bandit across his chest. The bandit was killed in no time flat. This didn't change the fact that there was still a sword gunning right for him. As Auden was recovering from his last swing, the bandit's sword stabbed him right through his leather vest and into his gut.

"Auden!" I shouted in fear.

The fight Auden was just in had grown quiet. The two individuals stood there in silence as the bandit held his sword deep in Auden's stomach. Auden stood motionless as he let his sword slump to his right side.

_He can't be dead. No, no. This isn't on classic is it? Damnit! This isn't a fucking game! Nor is it a goddamn dream! Stop thinking that! Auden's... fucking… dead._

Tears welled up in my eyes strangely enough. I tried to wipe them away but they just came back. Even Lissa was left breathless as she watched the scene. I'm sure she wanted to go heal him right away, but there's still that bandit right next to him. She would be getting herself killed.

The Avatar finished of his bandit in a quick swing and noticed what had happened. He wasn't pleased either. He went immediately to go and assist Auden, but there was hardly a point to it. Auden was already dead.

_Fucking hell. I can't believe I'm getting teary over this guy I just met. Maybe it was his personality. He just seemed like that old guy who pretended he was still young. Damn bastard was laughing this whole situation off as if it didn't faze him. He knew he'd die. He fucking knew it._

As I mourned over the assured loss of Auden, his voice broke the silence around us as it echoed, "Tch… You're going to have to… do better than that… to finish me off!"

Both Lissa and I's eyes widened as we heard the battle cry Auden made. The Avatar stopped motionless in his tracks as he stared in disbelief at what was happening. Auden's previously motionless body was moving again. He lifted his left hand up and gripped onto the bandit's swords blade. The edge of the blade cut into his bare hand but he didn't let it go. He kept the blade firmly emplaced in his stomach as he stared the bandit down in front of him.

"Can't let you… outdo me… while these kids are watching me!" Auden shouted into the bandit's face.

The bandit tried desperately to get his sword out of Auden, but he couldn't do it. Auden was determined to keep it in him. In a quick turn of events, Auden rose up his own short sword in his other hand and brought it down into the bandit's neck. The strike left the bandit gurgling up blood as he stumbled backwards gripping his neck. In another few seconds, the bandit would collapse to the floor lifeless.

Auden then pulled the bandit's sword out of him and threw it to the side. He stood in a pool of his own blood as he looked around. The cocky bastard gave me a grin and a thumb up with his left hand. He then fell backwards onto his back taking in sharp breaths.

Not taking another second look, Lissa, the Avatar, and I rushed to his side. The very first thing Lissa started doing was casting a heal on Auden. All the while, Auden smiled as his wounds slowly closed.

When we reached his side, two others ran next to us.

One of which was on an armored horse carrying a spear. He had short brown hair and a serious look glued to his face. It was indefinitely Frederick.

The other was a reserved man with blue hair. He left his right arm exposed to reveal that he had the Mark of the Exalt on it. No doubt the sword he carried is the Falchion which would make him Chrom.

The first thing Chrom did was go to the Avatar for an assessment of the situation.

"What's going on, Robin?" Chrom asked the avatar who has the default name of Robin.

"This man was injured in the fight. Him and this other man took a brunt of the forces while we dealt with the ones that attacked us. We probably would've hit more resistance if it weren't for them," Robin said as he looked at Auden with concern.

As we gathered around Auden, the bandit leader yelled out, "Rotten sheep learn your place in the food chain! Come to me! Face your butcher!"

"Lissa, I know I can trust you," Chrom said to his sister.

"I'll do my best," Lissa answered with pure confidence.

Chrom looked to Robin and Frederick before he headed off to face the bandit leader with them. Sounds of their attacks clashing resonated through the air.

Lissa and I, in the meantime, were left to take care of Auden.

"H-Hey, kid." Auden said in sharp breaths.

Lissa shushed Auden as she said, "You need to conserve your energy. You've lost a lot of… blood."

Auden laughed or maybe coughed with a smile. It's hard to tell. Either way he said to Lissa, "Sorry, I've got to tell the kid something before I… go."

"Don't talk like you're about to die, Auden. You're going to be just fine. So stop calling me kid, would ya?" I said as I tried to reassure him of his position.

Auden snickered in response as he said, "No, my time's up… and I wanted to tell you something before I go."

He motioned for me to lean in closer so that I could hear him in his current state. He then said quietly, "You did good out there, Vince. Don't beat yourself up over this kind of stuff. If the world beats you up and you beat yourself up too, then you'll only end up living a shorter life than me."

"W-What are you saying?! I got hit with an axe and I hit a guy with an axe. That's it! I did nothing! You're the one that-" I was cut off by Auden shaking his head in disapproval at my ramblings.

"You tried and that's all that matters. Now… try and stop being such… a kid," Auden said as his eyes slowly closed. His head slumped to the side as his wound in his gut fully closed.

_I-Is he really dead? He is._

I let out a sigh of displeasure as I cracked a nervous smile.

_Damn old cook wanted to call me a kid at the very end, eh? What a piece of crap. But I won't forget you Auden. You'll always be that damn beard man in my mind. Nobody else will ever-_

As I was silently saying my goodbyes in my head, Lissa let out a huff as she started to pout.

_Not exactly the way I thought she'd take this. Kind of was expecting that scene when her sister- Whoa! What's she going to do!?_

Lissa balled up one of her hands into a ball and raised it up high over Auden's deceased body. She then brought it down like a hammer, hitting Auden straight in his patched up gut. When she did so, Auden shot up to a sitting position coughing.

"Ow! You know it's pretty rude to punch people, right?" Auden sheepishly said as he looked at the angry Lissa. To try and dissuade some of the pain caused from the hit, he rubbed his stomach with one of his hands.

Lissa turned her head still pouting and said, "Well, it's even ruder to pretend you've died to your friend!"

_He's not dead? He's not dead. He'll wish he was._

Taking notice of my scowl Auden tried to calm me down as he said, "Oh hey, Vince. Funny seeing you in the afterlife. I told you that you'd live a shorter life if you-"

"Payback. I will pay you back for this you old bastard!" I cut Auden off as I threw a punch for his face. He didn't dodge but instead tried to block the attack.

I stopped midway in my punch as I said calmly, "Later though. I'm too tired to try kicking an old guy's ass."

Auden blinked a few times in confusion while Lissa did the same thing. He lowered his hand as he nervously rubbed the back of his head and said, "Yeah, well I think I'll take you up on that offer. I'm feeling a little tired as well and like my ass the way it is now."

I smirked at Auden's response and he let out a hearty laugh. Lissa looked at us in confusion as she said, "You two are the weirdest of people."

Auden's laughter increased in volume as I decided to join in on his enjoyment. It was cut short, however, as he coughed a few times. Probably from the injuries he's sustained.

Just then, Chrom, Frederick, and Robin walked back to us with the bandit's dead body lying on the ground behind them.

Robin smiled as he observed that there were no other bandits left standing, "Finally. I thought we'd never see the end of those brigands."

Chrom let out a sigh of exhaustion and then smiled as he looked to the rest of us. He then said, "It was a well fought battle. My friends and I are in debt to your help. May we have the pleasure of knowing your names?"

"Pardon me, milord. I don't feel it wise for us to be conversing with such individuals. We have no knowledge of their background. They could very well be spies," Frederick said expressing his paranoia of new comers as he does oh so often.

Chrom raised a hand to calm Frederick as he said, "Peace, Frederick. These two risked their lives for the townspeople. That's enough to tell me that they aren't such."

"But of course, milord," Frederick said almost sounding defeated.

"Never thought I'd be saved by Shepherds. Guess I really have lived a long life," Auden said while lying back down on the ground.

Chrom looked at Auden with curiosity. He then asked, "You know who we are?"

Auden lifted up his hand and pointed directly at Chrom's right arm. He then said, "The mark, milord. It's a rather dead giveaway of you being Chrom. I've seen you and your older sister the Exalt in Ylisse during a few of my stops through there."

"Then I'm glad to know that introductions will be easy for you. May I know your name, stranger?" Chrom asked with a smile.

"It's Auden, milord," Auden answered quietly.

Chrom shook his head in disapproval as he said, "Just Chrom will do fine. No need for formalities between allies on the battlefield."

"What about you? What's your name?" Robin asked me.

"Name's Vincent. No need in giving me any gratitude. I didn't do much. This guy's the one that took on a small squad," I answered while pointing at the exhausted Auden.

"Don't let the kid go fooling ya. He was a major help," Auden said with a slight smirk.

_You bastard._

"Well, it's good to hear that there are people like yourselves. I don't wish to be a bother but we can discuss more after we take care of the… fires," Chrom said while nervously looking at a building crumbling from the fire it was being consumed by.

_Right, the game didn't bother explaining what occurred after the fight with the burning village. It simply cut to the village after it was saved._

"Any able body can assist in the dousing of this fire. Do not feel obligated, however. We will have this fire taken care of in no time," Chrom said to the remaining villagers and I'd assume me and Auden as well.

While Frederick and Robin went out to find more buckets, Chrom and a few other villagers went straight to throwing buckets of water on the burning buildings. They made constant runs back and forth between the river and any house that was on fire.

Lissa and I were left sitting next to Auden when Lissa looked at me with a grin.

"Well? Go out there and see how your arm's doing!" Lissa said while nudging me with her arm.

_Oh yeah. Send me out there to work. Well, I shouldn't complain. She did save Auden and probably me too. Might as well do something about this fire._

"Right, and if it doesn't work, I'll be sure to let you know," I replied back with a smirk.

Lissa pouted a little as she said, "I don't mess up when fixing people, alright?"

"Right, right," I said as I walked towards an empty bucket.

I then grabbed the bucket and went to work throwing water onto the raging fires.

_God. Why couldn't there be a fucking water tome in the game? This would be so much fucking easier if there was. No, instead there's only wind, fire, thunder, and dark. How counterproductive._

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"It's… done," I collapsed with an empty bucket still in hand as I made it back to the others. Even Robin was completely exhausted as he appeared to be doing the same thing I was currently doing. Lying face first on the ground with an empty bucket in hand.

The fires were finally put out and the village was thankfully partially saved.

"That's good to hear. Now, I'd like to ask you and-" Chrom was cut off quickly by the sound of an angry man shouting.

The mad man was a bald one and he came storming towards us as he shouted, "You!"

_Damnit tavern owner! Can't you see I'm too tired to be yelled at?!_

Nonetheless, the tavern owner came bolting towards our group and stopped suddenly in front of the prone me. He looked down at me with daggers in his eyes.

"P-Pardon me, sir. Who are you?" Chrom tried to ask the enraged bald man standing only a few feet away from me.

"I'm the owner of the tavern that this slime ball decided to stay for free!" the tavern owner shouted while keeping his dagger eyes locked on me.

"Look, I'm a little winded here. So, if we could handle this at a later date, that would be great," I said while trying to push myself up to my feet. I managed to get up and was forced into a staring contest with the bald individual.

In a sudden turn of events, the tavern owner shoved something into my chest. It was an iron sword being held in a red sheath. I looked at the sword and then back to the bald man a few times. It was clear he was giving it to me despite the scowl he had on his face.

I took the sword out of his hands and asked, "You're giving this to me? I don't get it. Don't you hate my guts or something?"

"I do you crap for brain idiot! But that doesn't mean I want to see your guts spilled around town," the tavern owner said before starting to walk away from our group.

He stopped in his tracks as he turned around again. He continued to hold a scowl on his face as he said, "Try not to do anything stupid again. And if you'd all like we're having a small feast in my tavern. You're all welcome to attend."

Lissa perked up the sound of a feast and even Robin got up from his prone resting spot. The thought of food and relaxation might sound too good to them.

Chrom, Frederick, and Auden instead stayed calm. Chrom smiled as he responded with, "Sorry, but we cannot attend. We're making way for the capitol as soon as possible."

Lissa pouted at her brother for rejecting the villager's offer but didn't argue surprisingly. Maybe she knows what her brother will say already.

The tavern owner, nodded at Chrom's answer and started to walk away again. He was a good distance away but I could still hear him as he muttered, "Stupid kids these days. Running into a fight without a sword. The hell was he thinking? The next generation had better be better."

"Chrom, why'd you do that?! I really wanted to go to that feast," Lissa said in a pout to her brother.

_Ah, there's the Lissa from the games. Figured she wouldn't remain quiet for long._

Chrom laughed softly at his sister's reactions and said, "There isn't the time to be enjoying a home cooked meal. We have plenty of ground to cover before we make it back to the capitol. Besides," Chrom leaned in closer to his sister and nudged her, "I thought you could get used to all of this."

Lissa crossed her arms in response to her brother's teasing and looked away from him. She then said with a pout, "You know, sometimes I wonder how we're related."

The rest of the group all snickered at the response Lissa gave and I even found myself joining in.

The laughter died down as Frederick approached Chrom and asked, "We should be heading out now, milord. Are you going to ask them now?"

Chrom seemed to remember something as he said in surprise, "Oh, you're right, Frederick! I had almost forgotten!"

He then turned to face both me and Auden. He kept his hands to his sides as he said, "After watching your valiant efforts today I could only hope you two would join the Shepherds. Would you kindly join us?"

Auden was quick to respond as he said, "No thanks, Chrom."

This shocked the entire group. Even I found myself a little bewildered. Not that I thought he would join the shepherds. It's just that he was so quick to refuse.

This caught Chrom completely off guard as he lost his calm outward appearance. Even Frederick was showing signs of confusion.

"M-Might I know why you don't wish to join?" Chrom asked Auden.

"Well, let me first say that I've been doing things a certain way. It's a little engraved in my head. I can't just stop doing what I do so suddenly. No hard feelings, right?" Auden said with a grin.

Chrom regained his composure at Auden's answer and responded with, "None at all. It's entirely understandable. Don't let me change your way of life."

Auden continued to grin as he then said, "Then if that's all I'll be heading out now. I've been lying around in this town for a little longer than planned anyways. Maybe I'll catch you all at the capitol."

He started to turn around as he placed a hand on my shoulder. Again, either I'm weak or this guy is a brute because this isn't pleasant. He then said to me quietly, "Better to join them so that you don't look like such a kid the next time we meet."

Auden calling me kid was about to bring a scowl to my face but I hid it with an awkwardly formed smile as he released me from his grip.

He then continued in his walk away from us. Before he was completely out of earshot range, he shouted back, "Maybe I'll take you up on that offer on a later date, Chrom."

The group smiled at Auden's departure and held a moment of silence as we watched him walk away.

_Meet again, eh? Sounds like fun beard man._

"So, how about you?" Chrom asked breaking the silence.

"Me?" I asked while pointing at myself, "You can't be talking about me."

"There's no one else around I could be asking this so yes I'd think I am talking to you." Chrom said in an almost slight laugh.

_Join the Shepherds, huh? Doesn't sound like a bad life. Maybe I could learn a thing or two with joining them. Actually, wait! Not a bad life? Hello? These guys fight bloody wars! I'd be dead in the next chapter!_

_Now, that I'm thinking about it, if this was essentially the prologue, I'll be it altered slightly, then the next thing to happen would be chapter one, right? What was that chapter? I've played the game a few times so this should be common enough knowledge for me. It's… Uh… Fucking Risen! Hell, no! No, no! Triple no! I am not fighting those corpses!_

_B-But I'd gladly take the shepherds up on their offer. I just don't see myself traveling with them through that mess to get to the stupid capitol. Wait. What if I just get to the capitol before them and join them at their HQ? I could avoid the shit storm they're going to hit and make it safely past the next chapter while I figure out what's going on._

"Can I take a rain check?" I asked with a thoughtful expression.

The group looked at me in confusion. Lissa then broke the confusion as she said, "Oh, you must still want to travel with your friend, right?"

Oh naïve Lissa. You are very very naïve. Either way that doesn't sound too bad of an idea. I could always use a body guard. Especially one that's as good as Auden.

"Y-Yeah, that's it. Look, we'll head for the capitol and meet you there. I'll join you guys after that. Deal?" I asked while extending my hand for a hand shake.

Chrom was the one to accept my hand as he gripped it tightly with his own. He then replied, "That sounds good, Vincent."

Chrom and I release each other's hands from our hand shake with an understanding smile across both of our faces. I continued to hold my new iron sword in my right hand as I waved good bye with my left. Then, I went down the street that Auden walked down. It wasn't hard to find the giant. I easily spotted him out of the crowd of other townspeople.

"Auden," I shouted out his name to grab his attention.

He turned around with a doubtful look and saw me. While looking back down the road we both came down, he asked, "What're you doing following me? I told you that you'd be better off with them."

"Ah, shut it. And here I thought you'd enjoy my presence. I'm going to travel with you for a little while. You heading for the capitol?" I asked while I started to strap my sword's sheath around my waist.

"Well, yeah. But I don't think a kid like you should-" Auden tried to argue but I stopped him.

"Kid? Cut the crap. It's Vince to you and don't try me again with this kid stuff," I said with a hint of a growl.

Auden continued to not move as I still walked down the street. I noticed him being stopped and looked back to him before calling back to him, "Well? You going to let me lead the way or are you?"

Auden then let out a hearty laugh that stunned a few villagers around him. He made a brisk walk to my side and slapped me a few times on the back.

_The guy puts body builders from my world to shame I swear._

"Ah, couldn't resist following me, eh? What're you after, huh?" Auden asked while he continued to pat me as we walked.

"What am I after? I saw a guy cut down four brigands and figured he could do the same on the road. That's what I'm after," I answered.

"Ah ha! You're after my skills! How would you like to be my student? I'll be your teacher and you'll be my student! I can see it now! Vince, the great successor of the spectacular Auden!" he said with a hint of stars in his eyes.

_Is this guy for real? What did I just get myself in? Think I can go find Robin and the others still? No, I'm stuck with beard man._

"Listen, can you just focus on directions? I don't want to get lost because you think I'm your student or something," I said wanting him to hurry up.

"Ah, I see. You want secret training. Secret training that you never know you've learned until the last second when a brigand is going to strike out and end your life!" Auden shouted out in joy.

_This is going to be a painfully long walk._

* * *

**Well, how was it? Leave a review on what you think.**

**Before I go over other stuff I'd like to say that I'm going to attempt a strict schedule of a chapter once a week. I can't promise they'll all be roughly ten thousand words but I can attempt to promise that there will be at least one every week. Gotta work on that discipline.**

**So everyone noticed my OC Auden right? Honestly I didn't plan on making him, but when starting up the raid on the village I figured there would have to be at least one brave soul in there. I found myself thinking of him as Gregor almost half the time as I'm sure half of you did too.**

**Another thing I didn't plan out was me going with Auden. Things just have a strange way of happening. I hope we can all enjoy the company of beard man.**

**I'd hope you guys appreciate me straying away from the game's script. I did my best to not copy it and this is what resulted. I'd like to never use it if that's a possibility.**

**I'm sure somebody's going to ask it so I'll answer first. This isn't a lunatic plus mode or anything. Some of you might be weirded out by this after reading the fight scene of roughly the same number of people. I'll be it that I split it up with more of them going after the Shepherds but I digress. I'm merely going to throw however many people I see fit at the heroes. If this means a small army will appear in chapter five or something then that's what is going to appear. Maybe even just a small group of Plegian bandits will be a chapter's fight. It depends on what I do.**

**Anyhow, I'm sure everyone noticed me dropping a couple of references here and there. Point them out if you spotted them. One's pretty obvious.**

**So leave a review and I'll hopefully get back to you next Saturday!**


	2. A Dream?

**So this is obviously not Saturday but I had finished this chapter and was wondering if perhaps you readers would like me to go by the schedule or to simply upload them when they're finished. If nobody really gives their input on this subject, I suppose I'll go with the schedule uploading; which could potentially not happen this week considering I've uploaded this earlier than planned.**

**In other news, I'm glad that I haven't done something horribly wrong yet; and that people are enjoying this so far. My biggest surprise has to be how well Auden is being received so far. I made dear old beard man on a whim and had planned to never see him again for a good while. Glad to see I made a good choice on keeping him around.**

**Just had to ask that question and get my happiness out of the way. I'll stop getting in the way of the chapter's start now.**

**Italics will be character's thoughts and ****/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**A Dream?**

"There was another time where I was locked into deadly combat with a bear. Nothing more than my bare hands left to protect me from the feral beast," Auden said as we continued to walk along a designated path.

The path was one that Auden explained would lead us to the capitol. Not that there really was a path. It was just him looking at a map, and then looking around as he said, "Yup, this is the path!"

_I feel that I'll be questioning his intelligence fairly shortly when we end up in Plegia somehow._

In the meantime, I've been forced to listen to him ramble on about his past adventures. Or dreams he has had of what he may believe to be past adventures. No matter which one they are, I don't believe them in the slightest.

_I swear he is just talking to hear himself talk._

In other news, I've been trying to come up with a reason for being stuck in this death zone I once called a video game.

_Dream? This would have to be the most vivid and uncontrollable lucid dream I've ever had if that was the case, and I've only ever had one other lucid dream too. Spent that one turning people into animals. It was well worth it._

_Ok, maybe it's not a dream. So what else could be happening? Did my 3ds screens really suck me into them by chance? I… I don't even want to try and think about that._

_So dream and 3ds kidnapping are out of the question. Maybe… Just maybe… I've become a chosen one for some God to make the right choices in leading the people of this world into a bright future. _

_Me? A chosen one? A God chose me. And I haven't even gotten a fucking diploma in college. Well, I guess I graduated high school so I must be a bit more qualified to be some chosen one than that guy in that Tool song. Then again I don't feel that good about relating myself to the guy in that song. Here's to not waking up from a coma and going insane._

_Seriously, this all sounds pretty damn stupid. Whatever the reason is, I'll just be glad to find out what the fuck it is._

"I then locked the bear in a deadly headlock. Needless to say, he wasn't happy. Oh ho. He thrashed about, but he could hardly get away from me!" Auden continued in his story that I was hardly paying attention to. My hearing was fading in and out of the conversation as I was trying to discern my current situation of being trapped in a fictional world. When I actually listened to his story, I just wanted to pick and prod at the little details of his story.

"And you're sure this bear attacked you?" I asked being slightly exhausted.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course it attacked me! Weren't you listening?" Auden asked in slight shock.

"Yeah, I've been listening and I don't know how believable your story is. Where I'm from, bears aren't really that aggressive unless they feel threatened," I replied not really thinking of the potential differences between bears from my world and this one.

"Well, this one was different! He jumped out of the bushes while I was setting up camp!" Auden said.

"And what's with it being a he? Maybe it was a she. That'd make more sense. She might've thought you'd hurt her cubs or something," I continued in the nitpicking of his story.

"Boy, you sure know how to kill a good story," Auden said as he rubbed the back of his head while we walked, "Haven't you ever told a story before?"

"Not about personal experiences. Besides, nobody would listen to one of my experiences even if I had any," I answered.

"Of course they would," Auden answered joyfully, "Hell, you could tell one about today. And it doesn't hurt to stretch the truth a little, you know?"

"So you're saying I should just leave out the part where I did nothing," I said back to him.

"Well…" Auden sheepishly grinned as we continued in our walk.

Night had jumped on us rather quickly. Probably because of how much time we spent in the village fighting bandits and putting out fires. We had started through a forest only a few minutes ago. This forest would have to be the one the Risen pop up in and that meant no stopping.

Auden attempted to get me to stop a short while back to set up camp but I refused with the, "I don't like sleeping in forests," excuse.

Before I continue on with anything else, I'd like to point out that my nice new red shirt was obviously cut on my left shoulder. It left a break in the clothing that revealed my white skin underneath. While I talk about my left shoulder, my deep cut I received from that bandit's axe was thankfully healed by Lissa, but there was still a cut left. She told me it wasn't a scar or anything. Apparently, healing will only take it down to something like a cut and then it's up to the body to heal it. Also, my shoulder still kind of feels like an axe was run through it. It might be the aftershock or something.

Anyways, back to my red shirt, my blood had stained part of the shirt. Thankfully, it's not terribly noticeable. It's still a little irking though that my clothing is already getting messed up.

_Why couldn't they have ruined the handkerchief bandana?_

Strangely, our walking speed seemed to be dwindling as we got slower and slower. I looked over to Auden whom was carelessly continuing in the slow walk.

"Come on… pick up the pace. I don't want to… be in this forest any longer than I need to be," I said in an exhausted state trying to get him to go a little faster.

It was for his own safety. He can take on bandits no problem but Risen are a different story I'm sure. Also, we have no healer on the team now so there won't be any miraculous survivals if one of us gets hit with a fatal wound.

Auden looked to me with a puzzled expression. He then retorted with, "I'm not the one slowing down. You're the slow one. I'm just keeping pace with you."

I took a brief check on how I was walking and he was apparently right. I had slowed down and I wasn't getting any faster. A short while back I had started to lose most feeling in my legs, but I threw it under the bus as being the least of my concerns. My head was starting to feel a little light as well but I didn't want to stop.

It would seem that both of these problems I should've taken note of are hitting me harder now than they were before.

"It's whatever. We'll just keep going at-" I tried to respond to him but I tripped from my lack of real coordination in walking.

I fell to the ground and barely managed to catch myself by throwing out both of my hands infront of me. I then started to slowly push myself back up.

"Hey, hey," Auden said as he helped me up to my feet, "You need to rest, Vince. Loss of blood can take a lot out of ya."

"You lost… way more than me. I'll be fine," I replied trying to keep walking.

"Yeah, I have and I'm pretty used to the feeling. You on the other hand are going to take a break whether you want to or not," Auden said while lying me onto my back.

"No, you don't understand… Danger… there's…" I attempted to dissuade him from setting up camp but I couldn't find the energy to do so.

"Danger? You're talking to the guy that wrestled with a bear! No danger is too much for me!" Auden replied enthusiastically as he punched his chest.

_No… Auden… You can't fight…. These things…_

My mind blanked as my eyes shut on me. I had fallen asleep in the forest soon to be overrun by walking corpses.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

With the sun having set a while ago, the group of Robin, Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick all decided to set up camp for the night in the forest. They gathered up fire wood and even killed a bear for its meat.

The four individuals gathered around the fire and started to dig into their meals. Well, half of them were digging in. Frederick kept a safe distance from the cooked meat of the bear he killed, but he excused it as not being hungry. Lissa, on the other hand, made it apparent that she wasn't letting the bear meat anywhere near her mouth like a certain bug.

Robin and Chrom, however, were enjoying the meal quite profoundly. The tactician was enjoying it far more than his companion.

"Yuck! How can you two eat that stuff?!" Lissa questioned the two males eating bear meat.

"It's a part of the joys of traveling, Lissa!" Lissa's brother Chrom replied enthusiastically before taking another bite of the bear meat.

Lissa then looked over to Robin who was practically hounding the meat down in large quantities.

She let out a dejected sigh as she quietly said to herself, "And I thought only Chrom could be the way he is."

"What was that, Lissa?" Chroma asked.

"Nothing, dear brother," Lissa answered with a smile.

"Well then get to eating. You could use it," Chrom said blatantly as he tried to hand some bear meat to his sister.

This comment had struck a nerve somewhere on Lissa and it wasn't a pleasant one. She replied to her brother with, "Me?! What are you trying to say, huh? And what about Frederick? He hasn't even touched the stuff since he killed the thing!"

All eyes shifted to Frederick who gave them a small smirk as he avoided looking at the bear meat Robin and Chrom held. He waved his hands in front of himself as he said, "No, no. I'll be perfectly fine. Milord and milady need to eat more than me."

"Frederick, you know I worry for your wellbeing on these trips. There are times when you never eat during them," Chrom said to his knight.

"Really?" Robin asked with his mouth full. He then swallowed his food and continued with, "You don't eat anything during some of these, Frederick?"

Frederick looked back and forth between the three other campers with a small smirk. It was a strange expression he had. It was one to express calmness but his actions were slightly off of being calm. He then said calmly, "I do eat on these trips. I just eat after you've all gone to bed. It's why I stay up later than the rest of you."

The other three all seemed to have a realization at the same time as they nodded in understanding to Frederick's answer. The three went back to looking at the fire as Frederick sneakily wiped away a bead of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

"Hey, wait a second," Lissa suddenly said.

The entire group looked at Lissa while Frederick started to visibly sweat. Lissa then looked to Frederick as the other two in the group did the same. She then pointed at him and said, "How did you kill the bear? You didn't take your lance so I was wondering how you did it."

Robin and Chrom nodded as Chrom added in with, "Yes, I was wondering that as well."

Frederick's visible sweat suddenly ceased itself altogether as he let out a sigh of relief. He then gave the three others in his party a smile as he asked, "Have you ever heard the tale of the man that wrestled with a bear?"

The three younger individuals shook their heads no and waited for Frederick to continue.

"Well, there was once this man. Strong and brave was this man as he set out on a heroic quest. The quest in tell was to slay a powerful and evil dragon. One night the man had just started setting up his camp when suddenly…" Frederick started to tell his story as the other three carefully listened.

Some time passed and the group was told of the heroic adventures of some… man. They were on the edges of their seats at some points and even let out some gasps at other points. Frederick held no punches back in the telling of the story. He even got up at some points and helped for his audience to visualize the story by performing the actions he was describing.

Too soon, however, the story was over and almost the entire audience of Frederick's story was left satisfied. All but one person who will surely voice their disapproval of the story shortly.

"Wow! So he wrestled the bear while fending off invaders of a nearby village?" Lissa asked with admiration.

Frederick nodded in confirmation and awaited his next question.

This time it was Chrom that asked, "And then the villagers rewarded him by giving him the secret to the dragon's weakness?"

Frederick nodded again in a proud state that his audience understood the entirety of his story.

"And then he went to the dragon and beat it by shooting a venom arrow into its chest? Special venom meant to kill dragons?" Lissa asked another couple of questions.

"Yes, and the villagers erected a statue to serve in his honor and they renamed the village after him," Frederick stated as fact.

Chrom stretched his arms back as he said, "That was definitely a good tale, Frederick. It had just the right amount of action that a hero's tale needs."

"Who care about the action? I loved the ending! Finding your one true love is every girl's dream," Lissa exclaimed with a twirl.

"Thank you, milord, and, milady" Frederick bowed to Chrom and Lissa in gratitude.

Chrom was about to head off for bed when he noticed Robin still sitting. Robin was seated cross legged on the ground with his arms crossed across his chest. It was clear that he was upset about something.

"What's wrong, Robin. Was Frederick's story not enjoyable?" Chrom asked his tactician with concern.

"No, I didn't like it." Robin stated with a frown.

"What?!" Lissa exclaimed in shock, "But what about the romance? It was amazing!"

"That's not it. It's just… I didn't like the ending fight with the dragon," Robin said with a permanent frown on his face.

"W-What was wrong with the dragon fight?" Frederick asked in shock that somebody didn't enjoy his story.

"It ended in one move! I had thought up this big plan on how the dragon would be killed and it didn't happen! All that planning for nothing!" Robin shouted out in sadness.

The group felt confusion settle onto their shoulders until they all quickly understood. The life of a tactician was definitely thoroughly implanted into Robin's head. Even if he doesn't remember anything else, tactics, swordplay, and sorcery were second nature to him.

Chrom placed a hand on Robin's shoulder as he assured him, "Don't worry. We'll find a dragon and then you can tell us your entire brilliant plan."

"Y-You think so?" Robin asked.

"Well… No, but it could happen!" Chrom stated with a grin.

Chrom's assurance of the possibility of a dragon in the future surprisingly calmed Robin down a little. It calmed Robin down while it left Lissa worrying about having to face a dragon. She just hoped that there would be some of that special dragon killing venom lying around.

"As much as I enjoyed telling us all a story, we should head to sleep now, milord," Frederick stated as he took notice of the dying fire.

"You're right, Frederick. We'll all get some rest and then we'll tackle tomorrow with our fullest energy," Chrom said to his soldiers.

The group agreed with the idea and started to make their way to their personally chosen, comfortable, cold spot on the ground. They all stopped halfway to their destinations when Chrom suddenly said, "Wait a second!"

Frederick stopped the fastest in his tracks as he started to sweat bullets again.

"_P-Please don't tell me to eat anything, milord,"_ Frederick thought in a panic.

"Frederick," Chrom said sternly. He glared daggers at the knight causing him to almost break his calm demeanor. He then continued with, "that story didn't explain how you killed the bear at all!"

Lissa joined in with a, "Hey, that's right."

For the second time today, Frederick had avoided what he believed to be sure doom. He then quickly pointed out, "I wrestled with it. That story was my inspiration to try doing so."

The others in the camp paused briefly as the thought of what their companion Frederick had just told them. He had wrestled a bear… to death. There was no possible way that they could get that out of their heads.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got a nice spot in the dirt over near that tree with my name on it," Frederick said as he walked calmly towards a tree he pointed to.

He walked directly past the other three who were hopelessly staring in one definite direction together.

"Never anger, Frederick," Chrom said to his two other companions quietly.

"Agreed," both Robin and Lissa quickly said in unison.

They then went their separate ways towards their dirt beds. They each laid themselves down on the ground and fell asleep in the cold confines of the forest. Unbeknownst to them, however, they would be getting a rather rude awakening from some walking corpses and a giant fire fairly shortly.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"Risen!' I yelled as I shot up from my sleeping position.

My breathing was quick and out of pace as I tried to calm myself. While doing so, I took the opportunity to look around myself. A normally unclean room surrounded me on all four sides. I was even back in the confines of my bed that I had carelessly fallen asleep in.

_I-I'm back? W-Wait. Did I even leave? Was it really all a dream? I swear it was so real that I couldn't have possibly dreamt that up._

I wiped my forehead with my hand and noticed that I was sweating profusely. At the same time, I noticed that I was back in my regular clothes. Blue jeans and a regular t-shirt. No handkerchief bandana in sight.

_I really am still on Earth. Am I just losing it? Jeez… What did I eat to give me crap dreams like that?_

Shifting my body, I hung my legs off of my bed and planted them onto the floor of my nice, normal room. I took a peek out of my blinds and noticed that the sun was just starting to rise. The beauty of my room is that my window is pointed to the east so I'm only welcomed by the sun in the morning until it passes over my house.

_I must've slept through the night. It was late afternoon when I fell asleep. Man… that means I missed out on dinner._

A couple of knocks came from someone on the other side of my door. The sudden noise shook me from my thoughts as I turned to look at the door.

"You can open the door," I called out to the individual.

My door is opened and the person to enter was my mother. My mom was fairly old and a good amount shorter than me. She had the same color hair as me but she usually died it blonde to avoid any unsavory gray hairs.

She entered into my room and gave me a quick, "Good morning."

"Morning, mom," I said back to her with a smile.

"It's nice to see you awake at this time," my mom said in a joking manner.

Can't say I'm not accustomed to this usual teasing. I was fairly nocturnal in my way of life. I'd sleep through mornings only to wake up mid-way into the day.

"I got my usual ten hours of sleep. I'd say I'm pretty close to fully rested," I answered back in a similar joking manner.

"Good, then you can get started with your chores," my mom said now getting a little more serious, "You can start by cleaning this room and your dad wants you to mow the lawn before he gets home."

"Ok, mom," I deadpanned.

With the orders now finished, my mom exited my room and went downstairs.

_Was fighting bandits worse than chores? Can't say I could tell._

The day went by fairly quickly with me having almost constant work to do. The work was almost unbearable, but it's either this or I'd probably get kicked out. Not sure if it would really happen but I'd rather not find out.

I'd like to say I had an easy time doing the chores but that would be giving me too much credit. It was nearing the start of summer and that only meant shitty hot weather. I found myself drenched in my own sweat after mowing the lawns. Also, the actual physical labor was oddly a bit more difficult than usual. Not that I couldn't handle modern day physical labor, but there was something else that felt weird. My left arm felt oddly sore and I couldn't understand what could be bothering it. Perhaps it was because I didn't stretch or something?

Either way, I finished the work and went straight for getting a shower afterwards. No sense in walking around in my own filth after all.

I entered my bathroom and started to get the shower ready. I loosened my body and found my left arm still giving me problems. It felt as sore as it did while I was performing chores. I hadn't the slightest idea on what it could've been.

Brushing aside the pain in my arm, I took off my shirt. When I got it fully off, I noticed something in the mirror in front of me. On my left shoulder was a red cut. As if something had recently cut my arm and it was starting the healing process.

_I didn't do anything to cut myself. Where in the world did-_

_No, wait. I-In that dream. An axe sliced into my left shoulder! Lissa healed the wound but it left a cut!_

_There's no way. This is just a coincidence right? I must've cut my shoulder yesterday and that event made itself out again in the dream, right?_

_Yeah… You have strange cuts related to dreams popping up on you all the time… Tch… No… No, you don't have strange cuts related to fucking dreams popping up on yourself!_

_Ok, paranoia active. _

_I know that I didn't get any cuts yesterday except in that dream. Either I've got short term memory loss, I'm an oblivious idiot that doesn't notice when they cut themselves, I'm going insane, or I legitimately was in Fire Emblem in what I thought was a dream._

_Please, let me be oblivious. _

Being me in my paranoia state, I shut off the shower and put back on my shirt. I exited my bathroom and went back to my room. On my desk in my room sat the devil himself. In the form of my 3ds.

I find what I'm about to do idiotic, but I'm about to perform it anyway. As I inched closer and closer to the demon of a console on my desk, my heart started to race. Each step closer to it made me feel like I was going to be plopped back into the hell hole of the game that was currently inside it.

When I was within arm's reach of the devil's creature, I flipped it open and hopped back to take cover. I feared that the screens would become vortexes or maybe even the entire console itself.

My fears were quelled, however, when nothing happened. All that resulted from my stupid paranoia was that I now have opened my 3ds on my desk. Nothing more, nothing less.

It was far from what I expected but then again this is real life. It isn't a Sci-Fi movie in the slightest.

Still, I didn't stop my worrying. I still had more investigating to perform. If things check out with my 3ds, then I can at least stop freaking out about this cut. Until then, I'll remain a paranoid mess.

In another part of my investigation of my 3ds, I turned the beast on. The handheld console started up and I had it play Fire Emblem: Awakening which had been sitting inside of it. The game started up as normal and things seemed to be going just fine. I got past the start screen and things got a little funky.

There was only one option; New Game. There was another one but it was blanked out for some odd reason. That option was continue. I found this to be rather sketchy as I know that I still had my previous save files on here. Also, shouldn't there be more options? I know that there should be an Extras, a Copy and a few others but they weren't here.

I tried ignoring these oddities and went ahead to starting a new game. The game didn't even bother to ask me about a difficulty, or even what mode I'd like to play on though! It even skipped the avatar creation part and went straight into the game. Things didn't stop being weird there, however, because the game skipped the Premonition by going straight into the Prologue.

_The fuck is going on?! Well, at least it's starting the Prologue like normal. Robin getting picked up by the Shepherds. Ok, ok. So now they head to the burning village and fight the bandits._ _Alright, it's still going normal with the game putting the battle into a strategy style of play. Hey… What are those green units to the right of the main characters?_

As if to spit on my hopes that things were going right finally, two green units ran onto the bottom right of the field. One was indefinitely a mercenary class and the other… Well, I have no clue what the hell that one's supposed to be.

Like any other ally units that appear, they started conversing. A portrait of a man with black hair and a beard wearing a white vest slid onto the screen along with one of a younger individual with a red shirt and brown hair.

_I don't like where this is going._

The mercenary was the first one to start with, "What's your name, kid?"

_That sounds… too familiar._

"I'm not a kid! And what's with the sudden interest in names?! If we die here, then our names aren't going to matter or anything!" the other green unit said in protest.

_No, no. It's just like…_

"I like to know the names of people I might be fighting beside. It shows trust. Trust that will aid us on the battlefield. My name's Auden," the mercenary unit said.

_That. Fucking. Dream. _

_Well, if that's Auden, then that must mean…_

"My name's Vincent. Since we might die here, I'll let you call me Vince just this once," the other green unit with my name replied.

_I'm… I'm… I'm in the fucking game… while I'm not in the game… What?!_

* * *

**So that's Chapter 2 in a nutshell. It might be less eventful than the last one but this is where I planned to end it.**

**Can I say right now that things might only get weirder? Because things might only get weirder considering it's me writing this thing.**

**So if you didn't notice, the story Frederick was telling was originally Auden's tale of one of his past adventures. It is supposed to be a classic moment of stories being past around so much they get thrown out of proportion. It got so thrown out of proportion that the story merely calls the hero a man and not Auden. I wrote Frederick telling this story because in the game the characters do kill a bear and I just so happened to start off the chapter with Auden talking about wrestling a bear. I figured, why not put in an invisible link between the two occurrences because Frederick wrestling a bear to death sounds awesome?**

**Anyhow, Vincent's back in the real world while he has a video game version of himself in the game. How will this go? **

**If you have any questions, concerns, or anything at all, don't be afraid to send it in a pm or put in a review. I will respond to any questions and fix any problems that I possibly can concerning this fic.**


	3. Back in the Game

**So another chapter has arrived.**

**I've decided to instead go by a at least one chapter a week type of upload. That way, I'll be for sure putting out a chapter at least every week but that doesn't mean I can't upload two if I get another done. Hopefully you guys appreciate this.**

**In other news, I'd like to say thanks to everyone reviewing. It helps a lot. I'll especially say thanks to o realisticFantasy o who has reviewed both chapters. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic and hope you keep on reviewing. **

**Anyhow, the chapter is just below here so I'll allow you all to get to reading now.**

**Italics will be character's thoughts and ****/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Back in the Game**

_Ok, so if that's me then am I still me? Shut up. Stop thinking stupid. That's just a video game version of you that for some reason is in a game that he doesn't belong in._

_Ok, that sounded just as stupid._

_The hell? The battle started but I'm not even controlling the units. They're just running around as if a cpu was playing against itself. How entertaining is this garbage?_

It looks like when Auden and I charged in it was about the same time that the Shepherds arrived and they took on the other half of bandits.

The Shepherds also looked like they took on a couple of mages that were a part of this rag tag of bandits.

_Glad I didn't have to fight those. Probably wouldn't be watching this if that was the case._

_Jeez… the video game me is just running away as a bandit chases after him._

There were times where in the game the bandit could've just cut me off with the way the game mechanics work, but instead he followed a straight path that I was going in. When he finally caught me after my character had an event for picking up an iron axe, he attacked me. There wasn't any numbers for health but I know for a fact that shit did a lot of damage.

Everything's playing out like it did in the dream. Apparently when Robin saved me from that bandit I was considered to have been recruited as I turned blue. Meanwhile, it looked like the bandit that wounded Auden had gotten a critical on him but he didn't die. He then returned the favor with a critical of his own which effectively killed the bandit. Finally, as Lissa healed me and Auden, the rest of the team faced off against the bandit leader. Robin stayed in the back while Chrom and Frederick served as front liners. They took him down in a few attacks and then the battle ended.

The game proceeded to play out familiar scenes in the form of animated cut scenes. Everything played out the same way it did in the dream. When Auden and I left the Shepherds, however, the game abruptly brought up an option to save the game. The game chose to save on its own and then both of my 3ds screens turned black.

_The hell? Did my 3ds just die? No, the power light is still on. Hold on. It's taking me back to the start screen of the game._

I get past the screen once more and the game started to look normal again. All the regular options in the main menu have returned and I could even load up my previous save files.

_Ok, it's official. I'm losing my mind. Did I just watch a movie version of my dream just now or am I just hallucinating?_

"Come and eat," my mom shouted from downstairs.

Against my better judgment, I decided to close my 3ds and set it back down onto my desk before heading downstairs to eat.

I then proceeded to eat dinner normally with the rest of my family. Or at least, they were able to eat normally. I couldn't help but think about how insane I must be becoming. My mind was playing deadly tricks on me. I might be in need of a checkup at the hospital if this gets any weirder.

When dinner was over, I found myself oddly tuckered out. Usually I'd stay up till far after midnight but I guess my sleep schedule has been changed once again. I was slightly afraid of going to sleep after experiencing that dream and those hallucinations, but I gave in to my body's needs. I would just end up in a bigger mess of insanity if I became sleep deprived.

I climbed into my bed once again praying that I would awake in it instead of a game. My eyes shut and I calmed myself as I drifted into a hopefully normal sleep.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Hot. The entire surrounding of my body was extremely hot. It was a similar feeling that I felt when near those burning buildings in my dream. Crackling noises and explosions resonated through the air around me. Things smelled like they were on fire.

When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was being carried. A man with black hair was carrying me on his back as we ran through a burning forest. A forest that was being put on fire because of fire balls falling from the sky.

"Ah, so you're awake! That's good to know! I thought you might try and sleep through this whole ordeal," the man said with a small laugh at the end.

_That voice… You've got to be kidding me…_

"Auden?" I quietly asked in confusion.

"What? You already forget your old pal Auden, Vince?" Auden asked in a slightly less amused tone of voice as he continued to carry me through the burning forest.

_Of course it is… I'm back in the game._

_Ok, I can second guess this later. For now, I'll take this for what it is. A death trap._

"What… What's going on?" I asked as I was regaining my strength.

"While you were having a snooze, this crazy stuff started to happen! Now we're getting the hell away from it! That good enough for ya?" Auden said ending his explanation.

_Alright, no Risen yet. Wait. No Risen. Yet._

"Auden, stop!" I shouted in Auden's ear.

He came to a quick halt as he let me get down from his back. A few more fireballs crash into the ground around us. One smashed into a tree behind us causing it to fall over.

"What is it?! I don't know about you, but I like not being charred!" Auden said in slight frustration.

_Ok, ok. Look around for the gates. Find the fucking gates!_

"Vince, we need to go!" Auden said as he attempted to grab my arm to drag me.

I moved away as I continued to survey the sky for any portals. In a few more seconds of searching, a portal appeared and I pointed to it.

"Look! See that?!" I shouted as I pointed towards the portal.

Auden looked at the portal I was directly pointing at and his eyes slightly widened.

"Gods, what is that?" Auden silently asked himself.

Out of the portal a dark corpse that looked like a soldier started to push its way out until it fell to the ground. More portals opened up in the nearby vicinity and more corpses fell from them. It was the Risen and as should've been expected, they were well armored. Makes sense since they used to be soldiers and all.

_Ok, so if Auden hasn't seen a portal before either he's blind or that was the first one. Which would mean Chrom and the others are in that direction. They should be fine, but I'd feel better if we weren't in this forest anymore. Even if that means we run back to Southtown, it'll be better than encountering any Risen._

Taking into account where portals appeared and where they didn't, I found the best direction to get out of this mess.

"Come on, Auden. We have to-" I was cut off as Auden gripped onto my arm.

His grip was strong and he had no plan of letting me walk any further. He looked at me with a serious expression and asked, "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

There was no hint of anything but serious to Auden's question. He was either seriously worried or pissed that I hid away information from him.

I stared back at Auden as I said as quickly as possible, "I promise to explain later! We have to move!"

He held onto my arm and kept us stationary in the burning forest being filled to the brim with walking corpses. His paranoia of me, or whatever it is, is only making things a hell of a lot harder.

He let go of my arm with a grunt and drew his short sword from its sheath.

"What's the plan?" he asked while he gritted his teeth.

"We run that way and AVOID these corpses," I said while pointing in the direction we should run.

Auden didn't protest in my plan. Instead, he followed me as we ran in what I believed would be the safest route.

As we ran, I occasionally took a look to our left or right to see if we might be passing any Risen. There was in fact Risen on both of our sides, but we were seemingly being unnoticed by them. Either that or we weren't there first priority. I find it more likely that the reason is the former.

Our path was clear and we even managed to escape the raging forest fire that was now behind us.

_This is good. This is good. This is bad. Very bad. Why did I have to think this was good?!_

To stomp out my hopes of avoiding Risen, Auden and I spotted a group of them a short distance away in front of us. Not a large group as it only consisted of three of them, but it was still problematic. They hadn't noticed us yet and were wondering off in a different direction.

_If we just wait here long enough, they'll be out of our path; but we could also be attacked by ones behind us if we wait too long!_

I was torn between what to do. We were trapped on all sides with these things and would be facing a fight for sure if we tried anything.

Auden looked to me for some kind of idea I might had. When I didn't give one, he then seemingly decided to get ready for a fight.

Just then, another person appeared. One that thankfully wasn't a Risen. They appeared in front of us and started to do battle with the group of three Risen in front of me and Auden.

The person had short blue hair and an outfit that consisted of a color scheme involving red and blue with some gold trimmings running through it. They even had on a tiara that was meant to pose as a headband. The individual had on a butterfly mask and struck out against the Risen with their sword that looked identical to the Falchion.

_That couldn't be. No, no. It is! We're saved! Thank the lord it's Lu- I mean, Marth! Yeah, it's Marth!_

_God that's going to be weird._

_So Lucina- I mean Marth! Damnit! Marth! You can't go calling her Lucina or you'll get a sword pointed at you!_

Marth leaped into the fray of battling Risen as she-

_W-Wait. Should I get used to calling her a he for now too? I-I… I'm so confused…_

_I'll… I'll just do Marth and he. It'll save me from any mistakes while speaking._

So Math leaped into the fray of battling Risen as he swung his sword, Falchion, into one of the corpses. This caught the Risen by surprise in an unsurprising matter. They're corpses. It's not like they could've predicted that.

One of the Risen was quickly dispatched of with Marth's attack as it faded away. This, however, only seemed to alert the other Risen in the area as they turned to me and Auden. They're red eyes pierced into me as they started to limp slowly towards us.

_We're doomed! Marth has doomed us! Damn you, Marth!_

"Tch. No sense in running now, Vince." Auden said as he prepared to defend against an incoming Risen.

"U-Uh… Yeah!" I said as I realized I should be drawing my sword as well.

In the meantime, Marth had taken care of the Risen he was fighting in a timely manner and turned to me and Auden. He gritted his teeth as he saw Risen coming towards us.

I had managed to take my sword out of its sheath on my side and decided to hold it with both of my hands.

_W-Wait. Is this how you hold it or is it like this?_

I fumbled around in what way I should be properly holding the iron sword. I hadn't the foggiest idea of how a sword should be held when trying to defend so I was at a loss for proper sword stances.

The Risen's previous limp pace they were moving at morphed into a berserk bum rush straight for us. One went straight for Auden and another for me. Mine had an axe, but my possible weapon triangle advantage didn't boost my confidence.

At about the same time the Risen started their charge, Marth did as well. He was trying to intercept at least one of them as fast as possible while more Risen waited in the wings of the forest.

As the Risen came towards me with blinding speed, I took the best possible defensive stance I could muster. My grip on my sword was loose and my balance was completely off. I had to be the worst swordsman in the world. This world that is.

The Risen neared my vicinity and took his chance to attack me. He lifted his axe up and brought it down in a left to right swing. I raised my sword to block the attack as soon as possible.

The axe crashed into my sword with pure power and knocked my sword clear out of my hands. My sword was sent into the air and a few feet to my right.

_Damnit! Can't I do something right?!_

Auden was already preoccupied with dealing with another Risen that had a sword. He was easily outmaneuvering the corpse but Risen are clearly resilient. Only killing blows will do them harm.

In the meantime, I was left defenseless facing a Risen that was out for my head.

_Is me getting attacked without a weapon going to become a daily thing here? Crap! It is!_

The Risen took his axe and swung for my gut in a horizontal fashion. He was going to rip open my stomach and play surgery with my insides!

_Do what you do best! Dodge!_

I hopped backwards effectively dodging the axe swing. At about the same time, Marth cleaved the Risen's head off with his Falchion in a bull charge. He stopped in his rush as he turned to me.

"Grab your weapon!" He shouted to me as he faked a male's voice.

_No, I feel like leaving my sword on the ground while the corpses chop my head off. I quite enjoy the thought of being defenseless. It'll make things so much easier for the corpses._

_The hell do you think I'm going to do?! I'm not here to pick flowers!_

Despite my anger of being told to do what I intended on doing, I made way for my sword on the ground while Marth and Auden handled the other Risen. Auden couldn't seem to understand why the corpse he had stabbed multiple times was still kicking. He seemed to connect the dots, however, when Marth came in and killed the corpse with one blow.

When I grabbed my sword off the ground, more Risen came out of the trees and closer to our vicinity.

There was about four of them or so which gave them a clear numbers advantage. No kind of long range fighter on their side though thankfully. Just two axe wielders and two sword wielders.

"So…" I said as I backed slowly into the comforts of being near my allies, "Anybody feeling up for fighting two of these things?"

"Leave it to me," Marth said as he went to draw the attention of two of the Risen.

Surprisingly, Auden didn't really say anything and went straight for attacking the last axe wielding Risen coming towards him and me. I had expected him to joke around about my obvious desire of wanting to only fight one of these things. Instead, he seemed to be nothing but business.

_I'll have to wonder about that later. I've got to learn how to fight eventually. Might as well be against the living dead._

Learning from my past mistake, I gripped onto my sword's hilt as tight as I could. I still didn't have a clue on how to swing or even stand properly with this thing; but how hard could it be to hit a zombie's head?

The last Risen nearing me was one with a sword. I'd say we were on equal terms but I feel like he has a clear advantage over the inexperienced me.

The Risen charged forward with his sword and swung for me the first chance he had. His sword came towards my left side and I managed to block it with my own sword. This time, thankfully, I didn't drop my sword!

_Ok, I know how to block I guess? It doesn't do much good when that's all I can do!_

The Risen was relentless. After his first attack, he gave me no time to even think about counterattacking. He came right for me with another swing. This time he was doing an overhead swing for my head.

_Block? Dodge? Block? Dodge? BLOCK!_

I didn't really know how I should handle his attack and was forced into trying a block. I held my sword horizontally over my head to stop his swing. Sure enough, his attack recoiled off my sword again thanks to my successful block.

_Ok… Um. Slice?_

The Risen was still recoiling from having struck against my sword and I felt that I could try to go for an attack on him. I took my sword and went for a chop at the Risen's neck. The attack connected surprisingly enough and I felt a surge of joy sweep over me.

_I got it! Yes, I got it! It's still moving… I didn't get it! I did not get it!_

What I had thought to be a killing below turned out to be merely a scratch to the Risen as he tried to swing his sword for me again. I took a step back to dodge it successfully and found my back against a tree. Not the best of places to be in.

The Risen came after me and went for yet another attack. He came towards me swinging his sword towards my right side. I sidestepped to the left and avoided another one of his attacks. It also helped to find out that the Risen had gotten his sword stuck in the tree from overshooting his swing and missing my body.

_Alright this is a piece of cake. Stupid Risen. Who gets there sword stuck in a tree anyways?_

I took my sword and chopped the struggling Risen's head clear off. I would've felt bad had that been a living being but this was just a corpse so I felt no real remorse.

Having finally finished my fight, I looked for my allies. Auden continued to fight other Risen having now gotten the groove of dispatching them while Marth was handling a couple more Risen.

It didn't look good though when I saw Marth about to get sneak attacked by another Risen that had emerged from a nearby shrub.

Marth was preoccupied with blocking attacks with another Risen when the corpse neared his back. I then found myself running to assist him by taking out the flanking Risen.

The Risen got to Marth's back at the same time that I reached its own. It raised its axe up in the air as it was going to go for a killing blow on Marth.

"Watch out!" I shouted from behind Marth.

He turned his head slightly to see what was going on behind him when it all happened. I swung my sword to cleave off the Risen's head in one go and that was completely successful. Except I overshot my swing and was going to cleave into Marth as well!

Marth saw my foolish mistakes and ducked under my blade's path. This resulted in my swing continuing unimpeded directly into a tree. A tree that would not let me take my sword back. I had gotten my sword stuck in a tree…

_Is this for making fun of that Risen?_

In a flash, Marth took out the Risen he was fighting by stabbing up into the bottom of its chin while he was low to the ground. He then turned to me and asked angrily, "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" I repeated his question, "I'm trying to help!"

Marth then walked past me and parried an incoming Risen that was heading for the two of us. He then spun his sword around several times before slicing the Risen clear in half. The now two halves of a Risen slowly dissipated as the body's halves slowly fell to the sides.

"Well, don't. I don't need any help from you," he said coldly.

_Jeez... No need to be so cold. It was in goodwill that I… almost… chopped… your head off… I'll stop now._

At the same time that I removed my sword from the trunk of the tree, Auden dispatched of the final Risen in our area.

_Man, not even a chief or something? Ok, don't jinx yourself. I'm happy there's no chief._

The two of us regrouped around Marth whom had now sheathed his Falchion. Auden and I sheathed our swords at roughly the same time afterwards.

"Man… that was like something out of a horror movie," I said in a slip of the tongue.

Both Auden and even Marth looked to me with confusion. Even though it was hard to tell behind Marth's mask, one could distinguish that even he was confused.

"A horror," Auden started with and Marth continued with, "movie?"

_Crap. Crap. Crap. Stupid medieval fantasy game! Why couldn't this have been a Sci-Fi one?! They would know all of my stupid technology and even have some made up crap that I wouldn't understand!_

_How do I defuse this? Uh. Play it off?_

"It's nothing… I'm just a little… shaken up still… That's all," I answered while trying to keep calm.

The two of them kept their eyes glued to me for what felt like hours. In reality it was only a minute or so, but that changed nothing. I tried my hardest to keep eye contact with at least one of them so that I didn't look suspicious. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be as I found myself darting my eyes away a couple of times.

They seemed to decide to ignore my erratic statement though as they stopped looking at me. I tried my hardest to not let out an audible sigh of relief that could've brought their eyes back to me. Somehow, I managed to succeed in that department.

Marth then turned back to Auden and me and said, "It would be best if you two left… now."

"That's it? Nobody is going to explain anything? I mean, what is your name even?!" Auden asked as he looked at Marth.

"My name is unimportant but you may call me Marth," Math said as he started to walk away from me and Auden.

"Marth? You mean like the one in the legends?" Auden questioned.

"Yes… that one," Marth said as he paused in his walk. He then started it up again as he said back to us, "You'll live longer if you avoid these creatures in the future."

_Yeah, he's probably right about that._

Marth continued in his walk away as Auden looked to me and asked, "Want to follow her?"

"Follow? W-Wait! Did you call him a her?!" I asked in a surprised tone.

_How the hell does he know that Marth's a she?! I'll say that her get up and voice isn't all that convincing, but it still doesn't give any reason for suspicion in the slightest!_

"Yeah, why did you think she was a dude?!" He asked with a grin.

"W-Well, I mean… Yeah, I guess…" I answered nervously.

Auden let out a laugh as he pushed me forward. He then said from behind me, "You'll have to get your eyes checked my friend!"

_Tch. My eyes don't need checking! I'm just not supposed to know he's a she! Ugh. And after I got used to referring to her as Marth and a he too! I'm just going to say Lucina and she damnit! Screw all this confusing fake name and gender stuff!_

"H-Hang on!" I said as I stopped Auden from continuing to push me forward. I then asked, "Why the hell are we following her?!"

"I think it's damn obvious that she knows something and I'd like to find out what," Auden said as he resumed with pushing me forward.

"B-But, I said I'd explain!" I retorted.

"Ah, you can do that later. I've got your promise to explain later. It couldn't hurt if I get some extra information out of this so called Marth," Auden said while he pushed me forward.

He kept us a safe distance behind Lucina as we followed her to wherever she was going. I didn't want to follow Lucina because it could make us look rather suspicious, but Auden was practically forcing me to do it. He continuously shushed me whenever I would try to get him to stop.

Either Lucina was slightly deaf, we were pretty good at sneaking, or she knew we were following her and didn't care; because she never turned around to bust us. Instead, she walked briskly through the forest while Auden and I followed from behind.

She stopped momentarily and I almost audibly gasped. Auden stopped me, however, as he placed his hand over my mouth and hid me behind a tree he ducked behind. Lucina might've heard the rustling behind her because she looked back. When she found nothing, she returned to her walk.

Auden then released me and I gasped for air. I then asked, "Can we please stop this? She's probably just wandering around the forest and we're just going to look like idiots when we realize that."

"Wandering? Wanders don't meet up with a group of Shepherds," Auden stated as he pointed to where Lucina had gone. She had been going back to converse with Chrom and his group this whole time. It would look like Sully and Virion joined up since I can see someone that resembles Virion hopelessly trying to converse with a woman on a horse.

The woman on the horse had what looked to be short red hair and cavalry armor that also had a few streaks of red on it. That helped reinforce my thoughts of her being Sully.

The man had shoulder length bluish hair and a bow on his back. He was also clearly dressed as a noble would. I'm certain that he would have to be Virion.

_H-Hold it! So are you telling me that we ran off in the direction that Lucina went when the Chapter one battle started? Or maybe we were the cause of her leaving Chrom and the others to handle the Risen on their own? No, how would that be possible if I'm not even supposed to be here?! God! How much shit am I going to mess with?!_

The Shepherds and Lucina continued in their conversation until Robin looked behind Lucina. He pointed towards me and Auden as we were attempting to hide in a bush.

Lucina drew her sword almost immediately but was calmed down by Chrom placing a hand on her blade. He then called out to me and Auden with, "Show yourselves! Lest you wish to meet with our blades!"

Auden was the first to rise up from behind the bush with his hands up in the air in a surrendering fashion. He looked to me to silently tell me to do the same. I did as I should and followed close behind him with my hands in the air as well.

"I must say, your new tactician has quite the eagle eyes, Chrom," Auden said in a joking manner.

"You two?! You followed me?!" Lucina questioned with anger.

"You know these two as well?" Chrom asked.

"Yes, I helped them just a few," Lucina was explaining until something connected in her head, "Wait! You know these two?!"

Chrom smiled as he stated, "Yes, they helped fight off some brigands in the town to the south of here."

"Then I suppose they aren't as helpless as I previously thought, but…" Lucina said as she raised her sword once again.

"That does not change the fact that you were spying on us. Explain yourselves," Lucina ordered.

"I'd like to merely know what could make one such as you be so calm in such strange occurrences like the one that just took place," Auden stated with a smirk.

"That has nothing to do with you," Lucina stated coldly.

"As I'm sure it doesn't, miss," Auden said which caused Lucina's mouth to drop slightly.

"H-How did you know?" Lucina questioned while breaking her strict demeanor. She also stopped trying to sound like a male as she let her real voice slip through.

Auden laughed quietly as he said, "When you've lived for as long as I have, you learn a few things. Plus, you didn't exactly persuade me to think different."

_Is there anything Auden won't chalk up to him being old? Either way I guess it's true._

Chrom then interjected again as he said, "Um… Mis… Marth, could you please cease what you are doing right now. These two have explained themselves, haven't they?"

Lucina tried to say something but her words escaped her lips. Instead she sighed as she silently whispered, "Fine."

Lucina then started to walk away from the group before she was stopped by Robin asking, "You're just going to leave now? You warn us and then leave?"

"I have business to attend to elsewhere. Remember what I told you. Each second that is wasted brings this world closer to destruction," Lucina said ominously as she walked away into the forest.

"Strange girl," Auden said while scratching his beard.

"Yes, and you two are even stranger," Frederick said from atop his horse.

"Frederick," Chrom said while glaring at his knight.

"Milord, they stalked a woman back to us! If that doesn't prove their ulterior motives to you, then I'd say it would take a knife in the back to convince you," Frederick quickly said to Chrom while readying his rather intimidating Silver Lance.

_This again? Is there anywhere I can be branded not a traitor on my body so this stops happening? I feel like in the short time I've been here that I've had one too many accuse me of being suspicious than I enjoy._

"Frederick, your wariness knows no bounds, and I appreciate it; but please let me say that I trust these two as I do the rest of the Shepherds," Chrom said with a smile to Frederick.

Frederick let out an audible sigh as he lowered his lance to his side. He then said dryly, "If that is what you think, milord."

"He uh… Do this to you too?" I asked in a whisper to Robin trying to feign to not have knowledge of Frederick's behavior.

Robin merely silently nodded as he looked at the great knight in front of him. He then shrunk into his boots when that very same great knight glared daggers at the both of us. I shrank back as well but Robin seemed oddly a bit more afraid of Frederick.

_What's got him so terrified? Actually, I can understand why. Frederick's the calm guy nobody wants to piss off!_

"So," Chrom said as he turned to me and Auden, "I assume you two were on your way to the capitol like us when you got in whatever that just was."

Auden replied with, "Yeah, we took a break a bit farther ahead from here when the whole place went ablaze and those creatures showed up."

"What… were those creatures anyways?" Lissa asked while gripping onto her staff a little tighter than she probably normally does.

"Do not fear, milady! I shan't let those beasts get near your perfection ever again," Virion said as he slid up next to Lissa. Lissa returned his flirting with an audible gag as she backed away from the archer.

"You going to keep bothering the girl, Ruffles?" Sully asked from behind Virion while cracking her knuckles with a grin.

"A-Ah! Sully, my beauty! I have done no such thing! I was merely stating my devotion to protect the young beauty! Of course," Virion said as he got into Sully's personal bubble, " her beauty hardly compares to your own."

Sully's grin had disappeared as it was replaced with one of disgust. She then gave Virion a quick right hook that sent the poor guy straight into the dirt in front of her. She dusted off her gauntlets after decking the guy and grinned as she looked at him in the ground.

"What's the matter, Ruffles? The dirt more beautiful than us girls now?" Sully sarcastically asked.

Virion didn't respond. Instead, he twitched a few times and remained face first in the ground.

_I-Is he going to be alright? Note to self: don't get punched by Sully._

Everybody except for Frederick and Sully looked at Virion with concern. Hell, even Lissa was about to reluctantly start healing the poor guy. That is, until he miraculously hopped back up to his feet seemingly unfazed by the punch dealt to him. Seemingly is the key word. He actually had a large bruise on his left cheek that looked awfully painful.

Virion, however, acted as if it was nothing at all. He gave us all a smile as he said, "Ah, the pains of love."

This surprised the hell out of the entire group and a slight bit of Sully's smirk showed that even she was impressed.

Of course we all got even more surprised when Sully walked over and said, "So you enjoyed that one, huh? Well, have another!"

She then gave poor Virion another mean punch. This time it was a left hook that sent him recoiling into a nearby tree.

_I can't help but think she did so simply because he shrugged her punch off. The idiot should've stayed down or maybe showed some sign of discomfort from being hit!_

_Either way this only reaffirms my desire to never piss Sully off! Or even spar against her! She's terrifying!_

Virion slumped down against the tree as he was seemingly knocked out cold from the other punch. His right cheek now had a bruise on it that covered in a similar way of the one his left cheek. Lissa again made her way to heal Virion when he apparently woke up!

He rubbed his right cheek as he said with a smile, "That one… hurt, my love. I'll have to ask for you to please not do it again."

Sully grinned at her, I suppose, victory she had gained over Virion as she walked back to her horse.

"Well," Chrom said feeling slight confused by what just happened. He then recovered from it as he said, "I'm wondering the same as Lissa. Just what were those things?"

The entire group shrugged save for Lissa and Virion as the latter was healed by the former. Auden then smirked as he looked over to me.

"Well, I think Vince here might have some information in that regard," Auden said with a smirk as everyone's attention turned on me.

_You have got to be kidding me…_

"I told you I'd tell you later," I whispered angrily to him.

"And I think now is later," Auden exclaimed joyfully.

_You… You… You piece of shit! You damn piece of shit! You just have to go and screw me like this!_

"Is that so, Vincent?" Chrom asked me.

"Well, I mean… Yeah…" I said while still being in slight anger of how Auden threw me under the bus.

"Then please tell us. Any information on these things will be beneficial to our kingdom," Chrom said with urgency.

_Damn. Damn. Damn. How do I explain this to them?! Ok. Calm down Vincent. All you have to do is give the people what they want. Let's just leave out the whole being from another world and this one being a video game part. Hopefully they don't go around questioning me a lot. I can't deal with that kind of stuff easily._

"Ok, listen. I know a little bit about those creatures as you keep calling them," I said after taking a deep breath.

"Then what are they? Do they have a weakness? Where did they come from?" Chrom barraged a bunch of questions at me.

I held my hands up in front of me to signal him to stop or at least slow down. He does just this as he stops in his rampage of questions long enough for me to respond.

"L-Look… I know a little about them. Not a ton," I lied when I realistically could've answered most of his questions.

"My apologies. Please continue then," Chrom said after calming himself.

"Well… I only really know about this because it isn't exactly my first bout with them either," I said which seemed to surprise the others.

_I've got to explain how I have this info or they'll just ask me later!_

"You have?! When?" Robin asked.

"Funny enough it happened in this same forest a few days ago when I was coming through it. But it was nowhere near on this scale," I answered Robin without hesitation.

"You say this happened a few days ago? We traveled through this forest a few days ago as well and ran into no such creatures," Fredrick said with a glare.

"Again, it wasn't this bad. There were a couple of them and I was lucky enough to run into a few travelers that dealt with them. No real big deal like this," I said trying to dissuade Frederick's suspicions.

"Then where are these travelers? Perhaps they can assist?" Chrom asked.

I shrugged in response as I answered, "Who knows? They were supposedly heading far north while I wanted to go to Southtown."

"And you were heading to Southtown why?" Auden decided to ask.

_God. Can we stop with the questions? My brain can only come up with so many lies!_

"To meet up with an acquaintance of mine," I answered.

"And you stayed at a tavern without paying," Auden continued.

"What can I say? I'm broke," I said while I gave him a shrug and a smirk.

Auden smirked in response to my answer as he seemed to enjoy the way I answered him.

"Ok, ok. That's enough. What of these creatures, Vincent?! Weaknesses, habits, anything will help," Chrom stated trying to emphasis the urgency the Risen cause.

"Alright, alright. Well those creatures that you just fought… Yeah, well they aren't exactly creatures so to speak," I said while trying to find the best way to explain the Risen.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked with a look of intrigue.

"I mean, you guys have fought them right? They look human enough but they don't really act like it. They're more… feral," I answered while remembering having to fight the things myself.

Damn things just don't let up!

"That goes without saying," Frederick chimed in.

"Well, they're pretty irregular. They don't seem to have a definite strategy. It's just hack and slash for most of them. Also, they seem to be pretty resilient. Killing blows like ones to the head, the heart, or any other vital organs seem to be the only way to kill them," I said stating my observations.

While I would gladly tell them all about the Risen, it would probably get me nowhere. They would more than likely think of me as a lunatic and throw me in a cellar the first chance they got if I even mentioned something crazy. Something crazy like the Risen being soldiers reanimated by Grima himself, and that the very same fell dragon sent them back in time to fuck with Lucina who was trying to fuck with the past.

Chrom smiled at me explanations and then said, "Good. This is helpful information. Is there anything else?"

'I'm sorry. I can't really think of anything else. Besides the fact that I've decided to name them Risen," I said trying to give the name to the Shepherds.

"Risen? Why that?" Lissa asked after finishing healing Virion's wounds.

"You know, they kind of act like corpses and they kind of seem dead already. It's like they've risen from the dead. Risen," I said while trying to think of a reason why they were called Risen in the first place.

"Alright, then they'll be called Risen to help distinguish them," Chrom said.

_Good. I wouldn't want them to for some reason call them the spooky soldiers with red eyes or something else stupid._

"Since we're done now, milord, shall we set up camp again or start up in our journey back to the capitol again?" Frederick asked wanting to know what to start preparing for.

"After that rude awakening, I'd say that we'd all have a hard time falling back asleep in this forest. We shall start our march for the capitol again. This event might've spread there so we should make haste," Chrom said while starting up in the march.

"Aw~. I hardly got any rest at all," Lissa whined while following her brother.

"If you'd like I can carry you back, my dear," Virion said while trying to catch up to Lissa.

"You touch the girl and I break your arms," Sully said while her horse trotted close behind Virion causing him to halt any advances he might've tried on Lissa.

"Please wait, milord! There are a few stones in the path! Allow me to remove them," Frederick shouted from the back of the group as he tried to hurry to the front on his horse.

"I'm the tactician of a strange army," Robin said with a smirk while following the group of marchers in their odd… march.

The strange antics of the Shepherds after a deadly battle strangely brought a smirk to my own face. I had a hard time not laughing because of them.

Suddenly Auden walked past me while asking, "You just going to let us leave ya behind? You'd best hurry lest you want to wind up bear food."

His statement made my smirk disappear as I shouted, "Bears don't go around eating people!"

He laughed at this as he responded with, "If that's what you think, then why don't you wait here and find out?"

Suddenly, various sounds of different creatures resonated throughout the forest that I was being carelessly left behind in. I found myself looking around frantically as I worried what those sounds could possibly belong to.

I then started to run as fast as I can to catch up with the group while shouting, "Wait! Don't leave me behind!"

* * *

**And another chapter comes to a close. This one managed to be a bit longer than the second one surprisingly.**

**Anyways, so Vincent and Auden have now grouped up with the rest of the Shepherds. I toyed around with the thought of them not doing so but being in a corpse filled forest put them at a disadvantage. Thus I had Lucina come in to effectively save the day and cause Auden to sneakily follow her back to the others. Having them split up again after facing a mob of dead dudes would've been idiotic.**

**So the next chapter is going to be a training chapter for deal old Vincent. I'll say now, this training is going to be pretty critical. There will more than likely be some breaking of Vincent in it.**

**Either way, I expect that chapter to be ready around Monday with my estimates. In the meantime, why don't you guys take a guess as to who will be doing the training? I'm sure it'll surprise you all.**

**So leave a review on what you thought about the chapter. They're always helpful even if they might be about how terrible the chapter in question is.**


	4. Helpful Training

**As I predicted, this chapter was completed on Monday. **

**So I'm going to respond to some reviews at the end of this chapter since I want to and because I can. Warning you now if you don't care about reading my responses or if you're looking for them.**

**That's about all I'll be saying now. Enjoy this here chapter.**

**Italics will be character's thoughts and ****/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Helpful Training**

The walk back to the capitol of Ylisse, Ylisstol, wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. We had decided to continue in the march in the middle of the night after everyone, except for Lissa, agreed on it. I might've been complaining alongside Lissa if it weren't for the fact that I oddly didn't feel all that tired. I couldn't explain why I felt this way, but I definitely didn't need to go back to sleep. Perhaps it's because I had just gone to sleep in the real world?

Either way, we made it to the capitol a couple of hours after the break of dawn surprisingly. We made it past the town's entrance and wandered into the streets of the town.

Let me first say that Ylisstol is far larger than Southtown and that was having its impact on both me and Robin. We were both looking back and forth as we past countless people on the street. The buildings and small little market stands were abundant as well. It was almost impossible to not see one on any street. There was also a surprising amount of people in carriages being wheeled by horses. More than likely they were traveling merchants or maybe even just plain travelers. That still didn't change the fact that this town was bustling.

"So many," I started to say in wonder as Robin finished my sentence also in wonder with, "people."

Lissa giggled at Robin and my reactions to the number of citizens wandering around us.

Auden then looked to me in confusion and said, "I can understand the amnesiac's reasons but you, Vince? Have you never been to the capitol?"

This threw me off guard slightly as I realized just what I was doing.

_Crap. I really screwed myself now! How do I explain this?! Bullshit? Yeah, that sounds good enough._

"I've never really been here, no," I said while I sheepishly rubbed my head.

"Then where are you from?" Auden continued to ask.

_A better question is where I can be from. Well, in some of the maps there are sometimes little villages in them. I guess I could be from one of those abundant nameless villages. Here's to hopefully not having to bullshit a village name._

"Ah… A real small village a bit to the north of here," I said in an attempt of lying once again.

"Huh, what about your parents? Aren't they going to be worried about you joining a bunch of soldiers?" Lissa asked in concern.

This caught me slightly off guard because of the fact that my parents aren't actually in this world. This caused me to respond in confusion with, "Parents?"

Auden gave me a strange look before I recovered with, "Oh, yeah. They won't mind. I disappear from the village a lot and they don't worry about me anymore."

Auden and a few others in the group looked at me with strange looks until they shrugged my answer off and returned to walking normally.

_Can we stop now? I don't like playing ask me twenty questions that I have to lie in order to answer._

"It would seem the capitol did not face the mayhem we did, thank the gods. There also appears to be no signs of the quake. It might have only occurred in the forest," Frederick said while leading the way through the streets on his horse.

_Yeah, it would have kind of sucked to find this place in ruins for some odd reason._

"Look!" One of the villagers shouted while pointing further down the street, "The exalt is coming to see us!"

The villagers around us that heard this then ran down in the direction towards their ruler with wide smiles.

_These guys get pretty happy about being looked at, don't they?_

As the villagers ran down the streets, I was able to spot past them their exalt, Emmeryn, walking in the streets ahead of us. She was surrounded by what would appear to be her own guard which included priests, cavalry, and Pegasus knights by the look of it. It wasn't a very large guard but it was present nonetheless.

_I guess a looming war would cause need for some protection._

Emmeryn walked among the commoners with a smile that could heal one's wounds if they had any. As she would pass the commoners she would wave and smile to as many of them as she could. Every citizen seemed to be perfectly content with her actions even if they were missed.

Her stature of elegance definitely added to the number of reasons why people look up to her. It certainly did prove why she was such a loved ruler.

"So the exalt is your guy's ruler?" Robin asked the group.

"Yes, her name is Lady Emmeryn," Frederick answered while stopping the group's march to allow Emmeryn to deal with the citizens uninterrupted.

"And according to Auden she's Chrom's sister which would make her Lissa's as well," Robin said as he analyzed the situation.

"That's right! She's an amazing sister at that," Lissa stated energetically.

"Then… that would make you and Chrom…!" Robin shouted as he realized what this all meant. He was cut off, however, by Frederick finishing his sentence for him, "Prince and princess of this realm, yes."

"How do you remember Chrom's name and none of this?" Frederick asked with a hint of paranoia.

"But I thought you guys were "shepherds"," Robin said in confusion.

"As we are… we just happen to have a lot of sheep to herd," Chrom stated while laughing slightly.

"P-Prince Chrom, please forgive my ignorance! Had I know I would've-" Robin started to almost grovel before he was stopped by Chrom.

"Just Chrom will do. Formalities don't work too well with me," Chrom said with a smile as he stopped Robin.

Robin then started to recover as he said, "My apologies, Prin- I mean, Chrom…"

"Prince and princess… I suppose that makes sense. It certainly proves why Frederick deals with all the constant teasing," Robin said with a small smirk as he looked at the great knight in front of him.

Frederick let out an audible sigh as he stated, "Yes, the things I sacrifice for the betterment of our realm."

The group laughed slightly at Frederick's misery but quickly died down as we returned to watching Emmeryn walking through the city.

_I can't help it. Nobody else is asking it so I guess I will._

"I don't mean to give in to paranoia, but is it exactly safe for her to be walking around the capitol like this?" I asked the group.

"The exalt is a symbol of peace—Ylisse's most prized excellence. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. The first exalt, however, joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Lady Emmeryn helps remind us all of the peace we fought for back then," Frederick answered without hesitation.

After finally wading through the mob of citizens, Emmeryn was heading off to a rather intimidatingly sized castle with her guard in tow.

"It looks like Emm is heading back to the castle. Would you like to meet her?" Chrom asked his tactician Robin.

"Me? No, no. I couldn't possibly head into a royal castle," Robin said as he waved off Chrom's generous offer.

"I'd think differently. As the tactician of the Shepherds, you'll have to head into a lot more castles than just this. Best to get used to it early." Chrom stated with a smile.

"Uh… If that's the case, then sure! I'll come with!" Robin stated happily.

"Great! Then let's go!" I said as I tried to lead the group back into a march towards the castle.

The back of my shirt was then grabbed by somebody as they pulled me back and lifted me slightly off the ground. When I turned to see who had done such a thing, I met eyes with Frederick whom was still seated up on his horse.

"H-Hey! What's the deal, Frederick?" I asked feeling slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, Vincent, but you actually can't come with," Chrom answered for Frederick.

_What?!_

"Why can't I go?!" I asked while trying to get out of Frederick's hold on my shirt.

"Well, Auden actually requested that you head to the Shepherds HQ and get started training right away. He said something about you being in desperate need of some helpful pointers," Chrom said as he recalled his conversation Auden had with him.

I then directed my attention to the beard man himself and, sure enough, he was standing there with a wide grin while he shrugged his shoulders.

"S-So what does that mean?!" I asked while Frederick let me go.

"Well, Sully will take you, Virion, and Auden back to our HQ. Don't worry. I've already informed her of who would be perfect as your training partner," Chrom answered before heading off to the castle with the others.

The rest of us meant to head to the Shepherds HQ were left behind. We stood around in the middle of the street until Sully and her horse started to walk away as she said, "Well, you lot want to stand around or are you going to start moving your asses and follow me?"

Virion was unsurprisingly fast in following Sully as he said from behind her, "I'd follow you to the ends of the world, Sully!"

While me and Auden went to catch up with the two, I glared daggers at Auden and asked, "Helpful pointers… really?"

Auden laughed in amusement as he rhetorically asked, "What's the matter? Rather get some pointers from an enemy's spear?"

Regrettably, I understood what he was getting at. I'd rather be trained to live than be left to try and survive.

I stopped my glaring and replied, "Duly noted."

Our group of now four continued through the streets of Ylisstol as we were led by Sully. We soon enough passed the palace in our march. We didn't stop there, however, as we continued past the castle and exited out the city.

"Uh… We're still heading to the headquarters?" I asked in slight worry of where we were really going.

"Of course we are ya idiot! I know the way!" Sully shouted back to me.

"A-Alright!" I yelled in a reply.

_Do not make Sully angry. Do not make her angry. Please don't make her angry._

I calmed myself as I decided to ask another more sensible question, "So… Where is it then?"

"It's right down there. Don't your eyes work?" Sully asked while she pointed in our destination.

I raised my hands over my eyes to try and keep the sun out of them while I looked for the building. There was indeed a building at the bottom of the hill we were currently walking down. It looked a bit larger than I had been expecting. Also, it didn't exactly scream being a building for a war party to me.

"That's it? What is that? A manse or something?" I asked in confusion of the size of the building that seemed to get larger as we got closer.

Sully smirked at my questions as she asked, "Bit too big for a village boy like you?"

"N-No! Not at all! It's just… odd?... for a building that big to be your guy's headquarters I think. That's all," I answered the smiling Sully.

Sully laughed in amusement as she replied, "That's why we picked it!"

"Huh?" I said in confusion.

We had almost reached the bottom of the hill and thus were closer to the headquarters.

"Chrom wouldn't settle for any less when picking a building for our headquarters. He wanted to plan for the future of the Shepherds which he saw as a big one. Thus, we got a big building," Sully explained while she smirked.

I guess if you think about it, it makes sense kind of in the end. The Shepherds do become a pretty big deal. It makes sense that they would need a big headquarters for their huge future.

"So why are you guys based outside the capitol? Wouldn't it make more sense to be inside the capitol?" I continued to ask questions.

Sully, however, didn't seem to mind them that much as she continued to wear a smirk.

"Would you want to keep a war party that constantly breaks stuff in their own barracks inside a city?" Sully rhetorically asked.

"I guess you have a point," I stated.

At the end of my questions, we made it to the bottom of the hill outside the capitol. Our march ended shortly at the front doors to the Shepherd's headquarters.

"You guys wait here. I'm just going to swing around back real quick," Sully told us before trotting around towards the back of the manse on her horse.

Oddly enough, it looked like there was some stables back the way she went.

_I guess the building has a no horse policy._

Sully returned shortly with no horse and invited us inside the headquarters. Our group headed inside without hesitation.

The inside of the building was… different?... than what I had expected.

The very first room we entered wasn't quite what one would call organized. Crates and barrels lined some of the walls while bags of various other supplies were thrown about carelessly. Some crates were even moved around to provide for seats I think? I say this because there appeared to be a man sitting on one of the random crates right now. He looked like he was asleep while sitting up. He had some crazy blonde hair tied back and wore no shirt at all. He seemed to be a muscular individual; which probably assisted him in holding the large axe he had lying next to the crate he was sleeping on. Also, he had on large leather guards on both of his legs and one of his arms. Perhaps the one on his arm could be used as a partial shield?

_That guy had to be the oaf Vaike._

Back to describing the room, there was candles laid about to provide for some kind of lighting. Also, lying around on the floor were various books. The overall appearance this HQ gives off to me is that it could be organized but it doesn't appear to be.

"Finally," a new voice shouted from the other side of the room.

Our group looked to the source of the voice and was met by a young woman with blonde hair that held bows in it. Her clothing appeared to be definitely something a noble of this time period would be seen wearing. Pink and white seemed to be the general color scheme while she wore high heel boots I believe. She carried a parasol closed in one of her hands as she walked towards us in an elegant manner.

She stopped in her elegant walk as she asked, "Sully, where is Lissa? She has been gone for far too long!"

"Hello to you too, Maribelle," Sully replied with a grin.

"Hello?! Hello does not inform me of Lissa's whereabouts!" Maribelle yelled in worry.

"Jeez… you don't have to yell in my ear," Sully said while cleaning out her ear with one of her fingers. She flicked off something she got out and answered, "The girl went to the castle. She'll be back later. Right now," She motioned to Auden, Virion, and me, "we have some new recruits."

"Meet Auden, Virion and, Vincenet." Sully said while pointing to each one of us in turn.

"Yes, yes. It is beautiful to see more ruffians. Look, don't bother me and I won't bother you. Call me when my dear Lissa has returned," Maribelle stated before walking up some stairs.

"The girl can be a stickler, but she really does have a heart even if it doesn't look like it," Sully explained after Maribelle went up to the second floor.

"Oh you're finally back-"A new voice broke through the air until it was drowned out by a loud clattering noise.

A short distance in front of us was a woman sprawled out on the ground. She had gotten a face full of the stone that was this building's floor.

"Is she hurt?" I asked in concern.

"Don't worry about her," Sully explained while walking over to the girl on the floor. She grabbed the woman by one of her arms and jerked her up.

"Ow. Ow. Ow," the girl yelped while being pulled to her feet.

"You have to be more careful, Sumia. Try and watch where you're going next time," Sully said to the girl while dusting her off.

"Thank you, Sully. I'll try… It's just… these darn boots!" Sumia exclaimed while kicking her shoes into the floor beneath her.

She then seemed to have somehow injured herself as she yelped in pain and gripped onto her foot while she hopped around in a comical way.

Sully laughed quietly at Sumia's clumsiness and decided it would be best to stop the girl before she injured herself some more.

Sully grabbed Sumia and kept her from bouncing around anymore. She then said, "You should just stay still."

"R-Right… That would be best, wouldn't it?" Sumia asked as she gave Sully a smile while she let go of her foot and stood normally.

"Well, before anything else crazy happens why don't you meet the new guys?" Sully asked Sumia while she presented Auden, Virion, and me.

Auden was watching the situation with amusement while Virion was fixing his hair to make himself look more presentable. I, on the other hand, was standing awkwardly in the middle of the two without any idea on what I should be doing.

"O-Oh, we have new recruits?" Sumia asked.

"That's what I said. Did you hit your head too hard or something?" Sully asked Sumia while she checked her head.

Sumia nervously shook her head back and forth to stop Sully's examination. As Sully stopped she gave a smile and waved to us new recruits. She then said, "My name's Sumia. It'll be nice to have new faces around the building."

Oddly, her smile seemed to almost calm me. In a way, I feel like it did that to everyone. Her smile just felt warm. As if, it was the epitome of warming smiles. A smile that was one hundred percent genuine.

Even though Sumia seemed to have a calming aura, it didn't stop Virion from trying to put the moves on her.

"The name's Virion, my darling. I do look forward to seeing you around as well," Virion stated as he bowed to Sumia.

This action seemed to weird Sumia out as she didn't quite know what to do. Before Virion could try anything else, Sully shot him a death glare that froze him in place.

"My name's Auden, little girl. I'll try to keep this place from stinking like old man," Auden said before he busted into laughter from what I believe was a joke he made. A joke he made about himself? I have no idea. I've realized that Auden is too strange to understand by this point. It's best not to question his ways.

Nonetheless, Sumia found Auden's joke, or maybe him, to be amusing enough to giggle too. She stopped her giggles and faced me. Seemingly, she was awaiting a response.

"A-Ah, right… me… Well, my name's Vincent and I hope to provide some kind of assistance," I said as I nervously rubbed my head.

Sumia clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Excellent! I'm glad that we have so many new people joining us!"

Sumia then walked away with a smile on her face as she headed for the same stairs that Maribelle went up. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned to face Sully. She said, "I'm going to go and rest for a little Sully."

"No problem, Sumia. I'm sure you and the others have had it hard while the others and I have been gone," Sully replied.

Sumia gave another warming smile before she turned to head up the stairs again. Before she could get up the first step, however, she tripped and fell face first onto them. Every surrounding person was about to rush to assist her before she managed to recover on her own stating, "I-I'm fine! It's just… the step… it was a bit higher than I thought!"

She got up as she laughed it off as one big joke before she hurried up the rest of them in a flash.

"The girl's a bit clumsy, but she has a heart of gold. I'm sure you'll find yourselves warming up to her real quick," Sully explained as she walked further into the room.

Sully was walking straight for the man who was still asleep on one of the crates in the room. He had slept through all of the commotion that had been going on in the room.

_If that wasn't Vaike, I'd shoot myself for being wrong._

"Vaike!" Sully shouted into Vaike's ear while he slept.

_Called it._

This startled the blonde axe wielder as he feel backwards off of his crate and onto the ground. He then shot up while grabbing his axe shouting, "What's going on?! Is the Vaike being attacked?!"

Auden and I laughed at Vaike's reactions which caused him to go out of battle mode as he wondered aloud, "Are people laughing at the Vaike?"

"You're not under attack you moron. We've got new recruits," Sully said while bopping Vaike on the head with her fist.

Sully went through the effort of introducing us three new recruits again to the previously sleeping Vaike who seemed ecstatic.

_He's probably so happy because he has more people to fight._

"We've got more recruits, huh? Alright, listen up cause I'm only gonna say this once! I'm Teach and you'll all be fighting me three on one right now!" Vaike shouted as he got in a battle ready stance with his axe.

Called it again! I'm two for two!

Sully had to bop Vaike on the head once again to calm him down as she explained, "You're not fighting them all. Actually, you only get to fight one."

"What?! Why does the Vaike only get one! Don't be underestimating my power!" Vaike said as he pounded his chest with his fist.

"You get one because you're going to train him!" Sully shouted angrily in Vaike's ear giving the man slight shell shock.

"You're training Vincent, alright? Take him out back and tell Stahl to stop lazing around. He's a knight for cryin' out loud," Sully ordered before heading up the same stairs Maribelle went up a bit ago.

_W-Wait. Vaike. Is. Training. Me. Why. The. Fuck. Is. Vaike training me?!_

_Come on! Seriously?! Not even Robin or something!? He apparently knows how to use a sword even though he lacks any memories! Plus the guy's got G- Ok they don't know that but he still is a better partner than Vaike!_

"Alright , Vince, you heard the lady. Ol' Teach here is going to train you into next week!" Vaike exclaimed enthusiastically as he went towards a door out the back of the building.

_This is what I'm being trained by…_

"You coming or what? Ol' Teach can't do this all day!" Vaike said as he waited for me at the door.

"Yeah, I'm coming, Teach." I replied in disappointment as I walked slowly to head out with Vaike.

We went out the door and proceeded past the stables. Our walk continued until we reached a large area of flat land with a single tree in the middle of it. Underneath the tree looked to be a figure, but I couldn't discern who it was.

There was also a small shed and a small well to the left of us just before the large flat land that Vaike immediately went towards. He unlocked the door to the shed and opened it. He then grabbed a couple of things before locking the door again.

Vaike returned to me with two western styled wooden swords in both of his hands. He extended one to me with a grin. I took the wooden sword from his hand and gave a few swings.

_At least this should be easy. I'd hope._

Vaike then held onto his wooden sword while he let it rest on his shoulder. He grinned to me while he motioned for me to follow him.

We proceeded further into the middle of the flat land until we were at the tree. I was then finally able to fully see who was lying on the tree. It was a man in cavalry style armor similar to Sully's except his had a green streaks to it instead of red. He had messy black hair and had a bronze sword along with a small shield next to him.

_That had to be Stahl._

Stahl slept carelessly under the tree as Vaike and I neared him.

Vaike then called out, "Yo, Stahl!"

This reached Stahl's ears as he cracked open an eye before he fully awoke. He sat up when we reached the tree he was under and stretched. He let out an audible yawn before asking, "Vaike… What's going on?"

"It's time to clear out, Stahl! Teach here is about to cause some chaos and doesn't want to see you getting hurt!" Vaike answered while smirking.

"Oh you're going to use the training field? I guess I fell asleep out here, huh?" Stahl asked while gathering his gear and standing up.

Both Vaike and I nodded in affirmation to his questions.

"Oh well. I was starting to get a little hungry anyways. Hey, who's the new guy?" Stahl asked Vaike.

"I'm Vincent. I'm a new recruit for the Shepherds," I answered while extending my hand to Stahl.

_It's not that I find Stahl to be a great character despite his lack of actual use in the game. Ok, it is that._

Stahl smiled as he took my hand and responded, "Nice to meet you, Vincent. My name's Stahl."

We released each other's hands from our short handshake and then Stahl started to walk away from me and Vaike.

"Field's all yours guys," Stahl said as he walked towards the Shepherd's HQ.

With Stahl having left the field, Vaike got ready to fight me with his wooden sword as he asked, "Are ya ready for the Vaike?"

I gripped my wooden sword with both of my hands in contrast to Vaike's one handed style and answered, "It's now or never I suppose."

Vaike didn't wait for a single second as he came bolting towards me screaming like a mad man. I'll be frank, this caught me way off guard. Quite honestly, I didn't think he would get that into the training.

Vaike neared the startled me and smacked my left arm with his sword in a quick swipe. He stood victorious as I rubbed the surely now bruised left arm I had.

"One point for the Vaike! Score: 1-0!" Vaike shouted proudly.

_How is this guy going to help train me?!_

"Redo! I want a redo!" I shouted while getting ready with my sword again.

"The reigning champ, Teach, is being challenged once again? He accepts your challenge!' Vaike replied before he readied himself as well.

_Ok, the guy's going to try and throw you off again. Just have to ignore his crazed yells._

As predicted, Vaike came at me while screaming like a maniac again. He got to me and swung his sword at me. While I wasn't exactly accustomed to the constant noise he was making, I wasn't caught off guard by it this time.

I brought up my own sword to block his attack and was surprisingly successful. However, he didn't let up in his attacks or his screams. It was as though a battle against both my body and mind were being waged.

He continued in his swings, this time aiming for my head which was unguarded. While I could feel myself becoming disoriented from his voice, I managed to duck under his attack.

My first instinct was to go for an attack on Vaike while I was below his guard.

_I've got you now! I'll hit you while I'm down here! You'll never block this!_

Before I even had a chance to ready my sword in an attack, however, Vaike did the unthinkable. When I ducked to dodge his attack, he stopped in his swing and brought up his arm in front of his chest. He then brought up his other arm effectively crossing it over his sword wielding arm. Both of his arms crossed to make an x across his chest and he lowered himself down to my level. His arm with the leather guard was on top of his other arm to provide some kind of shielding I'd assume.

_What in the hell is this crazy guy doing!?_

He then charged into me with his body and knocked me onto my back. Then he uncrossed his arms and stabbed his sword into my gut before I had a chance to recover. The resulting blow knocked the wind out of me and left me gasping for air for the next few seconds.

Meanwhile, Vaike exclaimed joyfully, "The Vaike continues in his spree! Score: 2-0!"

_Seriously… this is… my trainer?_

I managed to regain my breath as I stood up. At this point I was almost brimming with anger. I held onto my gut while I held my wooden sword in my other hand and asked him in slight frustration, "What was that?!"

"That was me winning! You might want to get used to it. It's a pretty common thing around here for me to win!" Vaike said while he spun his wooden sword around in circles.

"No, that was dirty! That was downright cheap to body check me like that!" I shouted in anger.

"Dirty? You think bandits give a crap about that? I sure don't," Vaike said as he got slightly serious for once.

His response slightly calmed me as I could understand what he was getting at. It still didn't fully calm me though. For him to pull out all the stops against a newbie like me is ridiculous. It's like playing in a kid's baseball game as an adult and pitching speed balls to the little kids. It's downright unfair and won't help them improve in the slightest.

Still, I should've known Vaike wouldn't hold back. If I remember correctly, the guy doesn't even know the meaning of "fighting safe".

_I'll just have to watch out for any dirty tricks he might pull._

"You giving up?" Vaike asked.

"No, we're just getting started," I said as I readied my sword once again.

"Good cause the Vaike still needs to break a sweat before he can call it a day," Vaike replied as he too readied himself.

The two of us stood in the middle of the field for a few seconds before Vaike came charging for me. This time he didn't scream my ears out. Perhaps he screamed his voice out?

Either way he came in to attack me. He swung his sword for me to which I parried with my own. I went for a swing on him that was aimed for his head. My sword was coming up in an arc to my right towards his head. Before my sword could connect, however, he ducked under my swing and popped his head back up after my swing past.

Vaike then went for another swing against my body before I could recover from my swing. His sword was coming towards me from my left so I decided to side step to my right where my body was already partially heading. I, however, met resistance in the form of Vaike's foot as he had stuck it out to trip me. He succeeded as I tripped over his foot and fell flat on my stomach.

I tried to flip myself over and protect myself on the ground before he could attack me, but when I flipped onto my back I saw that Vaike already had his sword pointed at me. He could've hit me by now, but decided not to.

He looked at me with disappointment as he pulled his sword away from pointing at me. He then started to walk away without uttering word.

I shouted to him, "Where are you heading?!"

Vaike stopped in his tracks as he turned to face me again. Still the look of disappointment was plastered on his face. He then replied, "I'm done here. Sorry, Vince, but I don't see any potential in you. I think you should quit trying to be a Shepherd."

_W-What did he say? No, no. I know what he said, but is he serious?_

"W-Why? I'm a perfectly able soldier to do this! I've survived at least two encounters before I even got here! How can you decide I have no place here?!" I asked in anger while I stood up to my feet.

"You explained it yourself. You survived those encounters," Vaike said as he pointed his wooden sword at me.

His words hit me like a wrecking ball. I was stunned. Mortified to say the least. Thinking back to those last encounters, I knew he was right. All I had been doing was surviving my previous encounters. I hadn't done a thing to provide any kind of real assistance. In fact, I had almost killed a person in one of them that I tried to help in! How did I think I could be in a war party?! No, a better question would be why I thought I could be in a war party to begin with!

I stumbled backwards from the shock of the realization and fell onto my ass. I dropped the wooden sword in my hand as I furiously grabbed a handful of grass next to me.

The sudden realization had come to me. I had thought that I could play the hero people always see in movies and video games but I was wrong. I was dead wrong. I was nothing more than a useless piece of skin that's true purpose in life was to live out an average life. An average, uneventful, mediocre life. An average life for a person that dreamed to be something more.

_What… What the fuck was I thinking? What the fuck was I thinking?!_

I punched the ground to my side multiple times as I felt my anger boiling. Anger that was directed solely at myself.

I hadn't the first clue on how to be a hero. It didn't matter that I fell into a game. Even if this was the real world I would've wanted to try the same idiotic thing. All that did matter was my foolish dreams of heroic deeds. Deeds that might pull me out of a normal life. I should've known that these deeds would never be possible for me though. Even if I am getting pulled into a video game.

"Is this what you want to be?" I heard Vaike ask.

His words suddenly broke me from my fit of rage and sadness as I stopped hitting the ground to look up to him. I asked him, "What are you talking about?"

"This mess you've become. Do you want to be this or something else?" Vaike asked.

I took a moment to calm myself long enough before I could look myself over. I was a raging idiot that had decided it would be best to take out his anger on the ground. A fool that decided all other options must be out the window.

I looked back to Vaike as I answered, "No… No, it isn't."

"Then what is it you want to be?" Vaike asked.

Ii took me a minute to answer him with, "I'm… I'm trying to be like you guys!"

He then took a step closer to me as he punched a fist against his chest. He exclaimed, "Then do it!"

His reply shook me almost as much as the one that put me on the ground. I asked in confusion, "B-But didn't you tell me that I couldn't?"

"That's where you failed the Vaike's strenuous training program! First rule: Never let anyone tell you what you can or can't do!"

"I… I don't quite understand," I said as I fell into more confusion.

"You can't let people go around telling you what you can do, Vince! If the Vaike did, then I would probably still be living in the streets!" Vaike said.

"Then why did you tell me in the first place?" I asked in more confusion.

"Because I'm training you that's why! Before I can teach you anything I have to build up your confidence first! Otherwise, you're no match for ol' Teach," Vaike exclaimed.

"I don't get it… I'm not confident enough so I can't beat you?" I asked still in confusion as I started to scratch my head in wonder.

Vaike started to get annoyed with all of my questions as he furiously scratched his own head before he recovered and asked calmly, "The way you fight… How well do you think you fight?"

"I think I do decent enough…" I said as I picked up the sword next to me and looked it over.

"Wrong!" I heard Vaike shout which caused me to drop the sword out of my hands.

"You aren't fighting at all! The Vaike knows fighting and you aren't doing it! Your confidence shows in your fighting. Think about how you've been fighting!" Vaike said as he pointed his wooden sword at me once again.

_Well, I do a lot of blocking and I don't really charge many things. Actually, I don't charge things unless I have the flank on them. I really avoid frontal battles. I turtle it up and hope to find a break in people's attacks._

"So I need to change how I fight?" I asked.

"Exactly! You need to be more aggressive! I can tell you're an angry dude, so why not show it more? Like when I told you that you shouldn't be a Shepherd! You should've decked me in the face!" Vaike said while he shadow bowed.

I grabbed ahold of my wooden sword once again and raised myself off the ground. I held it in both my hands as I faced Vaike.

"Alright, I can do that. I kind of feel like beating the crap out of you for crushing my self-esteem just now anyways," I stated with a grin.

"What? I told you the Vaike was already done! You think the Vaike jokes?" Vaike asked with a smirk.

"Good, it only means you won't fight back while I kick your ass," I replied.

Vaike grinned as he too got ready to start a fight. He then said, "You think so huh?"

I charged for Vaike as he did the same towards me. We both started to yell at the top of our lungs as we continued in our mad charges. When I was close enough, I swung my wooden sword as he did the very same. Our swords collided and we both recoiled off each other's attacks. Vaike grinned to me and I did the same to him.

After recovering from my recoil, I swung for Vaike once again. He blocked my once again with his own sword.

He then went for a punch to my face with his right hand that I swiftly backed away from. I then returned his attack with another swing with my sword. This time I went for a downward vertical attack aimed for the top of his head. Vaike raised his wooden sword horizontally to block and was successful in his attempt as my sword bashed against his own.

I kept the pressure on him as I continued to hold my sword against his. He was unable to move his sword or else I would smack him on the top of his head. He, however, was handling the pressure perfectly fine with one hand on his sword and a smirk on his face.

_He'll try something… I knew it!_

As easily predicted, Vaike tried to knee me in the gut while I was focusing on my sword. I backed away to barely avoid receiving a knee to the gut as Vaike went on the offensive. He swung for my left side with his sword as I backed away from him. He was just barely out of range in his attack thanks to my backpedaling.

The attacks didn't stop there though. He came in for another swing on my right this time. This time he was aiming for my shoulder. I barely managed to parry his attack to my right which had his guard wide open.

Or at least I had thought he was open. As I went in for an attack, Vaike swung his right hand for me once again. He was dead set on punching me sooner or later. I barely managed to pull back from my attack to dodge his incoming attack.

Vaike came towards me with relentless attacks. He was putting me in the type of situation he wanted. One where I tried to block his attacks. It was the way he wanted it. I wouldn't be able to make an attack if he just kept pressure on me.

Vaike then came at me with an horizontal swing for my head. I had found an opening. I ducked under his attack and proceeded to run under his sword arm for his flank.

_I'm sure he'll try to… yup, there it is._

Vaike had made the attempt to stick his foot out to trip me but I went too far from his leg's reach for him to effectively trip me. I made it behind him and went in for the swing. He still hadn't made any attempt to move or block me. I was certain to hit him.

Just as my sword neared Vaike's shoulder, I felt an incredible amount of force strike me into the gut. When I looked down at the source, I had found that it was Vaike's wooden sword. He stabbed behind himself to hit me before I could hit him. I was only inches away too!

Vaike turned his head slightly to see if he had struck me or not and was pleased to see that he did. He then turned fully around and exclaimed triumphantly, "The Vaike wins again! Score: 3-0!"

"Damn… I was… so close too," I said in ragged breaths.

"Don't worry about it, Vince! I'm a lot to handle at first! You'll catch me eventually," Vaike said as he patted my back in reassurance.

"I don't know who… told you we were done. Cause I'm sure not," I replied as I got ready to fight again.

_I'm going to change that zero on the scoreboard._

Vaike was a little surprised by my resolve to continue training but he recovered as he became excited.

"The Vaike don't mind! He can do this all day," Vaike stated with a grin as he too readied himself for the fifth time today.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Time passed by slowly as Vaike and I sparred throughout the remainder of the day. Our constant yells earned us a few yells back from a rather annoyed Mairbelle that had just about enough of our training. Nonetheless, we carried on with what would be the most brutal kind of training I had ever experienced in my life. Not that I've been trained that much to begin with.

The sun started to set below the horizon as the field Vaike and I were in changed from a bright green color to a deep orange in a matter of minutes. The previously warm atmosphere we were in soon started to drop in temperatures as night drew closer and closer.

During the middle of the training, I saw that both Chrom and even Auden had come out to check on me and Vaike. They didn't say anything, but decided to leave when they had seen enough.

Battered, bruised and completely tuckered out, I slumped down against the tree that took the middle of the open plain we trained in. Vaike came to the tree as well and slumped down on the other side of the tree. Even he was breathing raggedly like I was.

"You know… you really messed me up back there," I said in an exhausted state to the equally exhausted Vaike.

"Yeah? Good, cause that's… what the Vaike is supposed to do!" Vaike said as he laughed the whole situation off.

Realistically, I gave the muscular idiot no visible wounds at all. Quite frankly, all I managed to do was tucker the guy out. On the other hand, Vaike left me battered to no end. All across my body I felt sorer than ever before as he landed blow after blow on my body. I was certain to be seeing some bruises on my body.

Still, even though he injured me beyond imagination. I deeply appreciated it. While I can't say is methods are the best, they definitely worked. I feel much more confident in fighting than I did before. I don't feel as though I might be that much better at it, but it helped to have confidence.

"You good?" Vaike asked as he twisted his head around the tree to see me on the other side, "You're doing better, right? Ol' Teach sure has one killer training program, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," I replied with a smile, "I'm doing better. Thanks, Vaike."

"But…" I said as I managed to stand up, "I wouldn't mind kicking your ass again in the future. Have to repay you for these wounds sometime."

Vaike grinned as he also stood up. He then said, "Oh yeah! The Vaike is always up for so more competition! It's how the best get even better! The score's 15-5 so don't you forget it!"

"I think I will. Because that score's going to be 15-16 real soon," I replied with a grin.

"Ha! Keep dreaming, pal!" Vaike said energetically before walking towards the Shepherd's HQ. He stopped midway as he looked back to me and asked, "Well, don't you wanna eat somethin'?"

"Yeah, I'd like to eat! What do you take me for? A training dummy?" I asked with a smirk as I went to catch up with Vaike.

"With the way you train? Yeah, I think you just might be one!" Vaike said with a laugh as I caught up to him.

I pushed him to the side in annoyance of his answer and he returns it with a push of one of his own. His push almost caused me to fall over, but I managed to keep my balance.

"Hey, Vince, drink this," Vaike said as he pulled a small flask out of his pouch he had strapped to his side.

The flask had some kind of slightly sparkling blue liquid inside it. It was held inside the flask thanks to a cork that was secured on top of it.

"Uh… What's that?" I asked.

Vaike laughed at my question and responded, "What? Never seen a vulnerary before? Just drink it ya idiot!"

He forced the vulnerary into my hand in a flash. I was left staring at the peculiar drink in my hands as we walked.

_This is a vulnerary? I hope it doesn't taste like crap._

I uncorked the flask in my hands and took a swig of the contents inside. The taste… was abdominal. I spit out the drink immediately and tried my best to get the taste out of my mouth.

"This tastes like-" I was cut off by Vaike laughing loudly and finishing my sentence with, "Crap?"

"Yeah, it tastes awful. Even I can't stand the taste! Still, you'll feel like a cleric just healed ya!" Vaike said.

I looked back at the uncorked flask as I stirred the contents of it.

_The stuff tastes like ass, but if it can heal me like it does in the game then I suppose I can handle it._

I took another quick swig of the vulnerary in my hand and forced myself to swallow it. I quickly corked the flask again as I gave the rest of the vulnerary back to Vaike. He took the flask as I gagged from the horrible taste that went through my mouth for the second time.

My gagging stopped soon as I lost the horrible taste and my body started to feel oddly better. The sore feeling that had once covered most of my arms and legs had vanished. It would appear the vulnerary can at least do its job.

"Feels better right?" Vaike asked.

"Yeah, but I would never sell this thing as a beverage," I replied.

Vaike laughed in amusement as he said, "Yeah, they say not to drink the stuff anyways."

"What?! Then why the heck did you make me drink it?!" I asked in slight frustration.

"Huh?" Vaike said as he rubbed his head in confusion.

"Vaike… if that stuff isn't supposed to be consumed, why did you make me do it?" I asked him this time a little slower.

"Oh! Well, they say you're supposed to rub the stuff on your injuries cause the stuff tastes like last month's dishwater!" Vaike explained with a smirk.

"Then why did you make me drink it?!" I asked again.

"Because that's the fast way to use the stuff! Ol' Teach doesn't have time for all that rubbing so he drinks the stuff!" Vaike answered in his own frustration at my frustration.

_I… will get you back for this… Just you wait… Vaike._

"Whatever," I said as I waved off his frustration, "Thanks anyways for the… magical dishwater."

"No problem, pal!" Vaike said as he patted me on the back.

_Payback… It's coming…_

Vaike and I got to the back entrance to the Shepherd's HQ in a few more minutes. The sun had almost completely set when we made it to the door so it was practically perfect timing.

Vaike went to open the door when suddenly somebody else came running through the door. The door slammed into Vaike as the person running through came barreling into me. I managed to stop the individual's panic run as they collided with me. The individual in such a hurry was Stahl for some odd reason.

"Stahl, what's with the hurry!? You slammed a door in the Vaike's face!" Vaike said in frustration as he rubbed his face.

"Dinner… Dinner's being cooked… It's being cooked by…" Stahl said in between ragged breaths.

"Cooked by who?" I asked wanting him to finish what he was saying.

"It's being cooked by-" Stahl tried to answer after he recovered from his panic breathing but was cut off by another voice shouting from behind him, "Stahl, where do you think you're going?!"

The voice behind Stahl turned out to be Sully's as she walked up behind the fellow knight and grabbed him by the shoulder. This caused Stahl to be slightly shocked as he stiffened in front of me.

"I spent all this time cooking and you're not about to skip out on it," Sully said as she tightened her grip on Stahl's shoulder.

"Skip? No way! I'd never skip out on dinner! Who do you think you're talking to, Sully?" Stahl rhetorically asked with a nervous smile.

"Good," Sully said as she turned her direction to me, "Come on, Vincent. I've already cooked and served dinner. You don't want to eat cold food."

"O-Of course not!" I answered in fear of what's to come.

_She's a terrible cook from what I know in the games! It'll probably be as bad as the vulnerary! Or even worse!_

"Vaike," Sully said as she looked over my shoulder to see Vaike trying to sneak away, "Where do you think you're heading?"

Vaike tunred around and sheepishly scratched his head as he replied, "Ol' Teach was just… going for a swim! Yeah, I need to go swimming before the day's over!"

"In what body of water would you swim in?" Sully asked as there was obviously no body of water near here.

"Uh… Well… What I meant was…" Vaike tried to answer as he looked around nervously.

"I think you meant that you were coming back for dinner," Sully answered for Vaike as she pulled Stahl back inside the Shepherd's HQ. After getting Stahl back inside, she looked back out the door and shot a piercing glare at Vaike.

"Uh… um… Yeah… that's what I meant," Vaike said in defeat as he walked slowly into the HQ.

"Well, Vincent? Are you going for a swim or are you eating?" Sully asked me.

"I'll eat. No swimming here," I answered as I walked inside.

Sully lead the way to the dining table as Stahl, Vaike, and I trailed behind.

"So… this cooking… is it bad?" I asked Stahl in slight fear.

"I would eat a lot of edible things, but the stuff sully cooks isn't one of those things. Does that give you an idea?" Stahl asked after answering my question.

"Yeah, I guess; but why would she be allowed to cook then?" I asked him.

"Well, everybody kind of forgot about who was supposed to be cooking tonight, and I guess Sully took the responsibility herself which is odd because she doesn't even like doing this anyways," Stahl explained as we neared the dining table that was kept behind a wall in the main room.

The kitchen looked to be behind a wall opposite to the dining room probably for convenience.

We entered into the dining room, and took a seat with the rest of the Shepherds. Even Miriel and Ricken were here which was odd since they weren't here earlier. Or at least they didn't appear to have been.

On the table was an assortment of bowls and spoons for each person, a few candles thrown about to provide for light, and a giant pot in the middle of the table. Each bowl already appeared to have some kind of soup inside it already before Stahl, Vaike, and I arrived.

Sully stood behind her seat as she said, "I know I normally don't cook for a good reason, but I thought I'd give this new recipe a try to see if it was any good. So everybody dig in!"

She took a seat at her announcement to the start of the meal that nobody seemed to want to partake in. Everybody stared at their meals in front of them while they played around with their spoons. Not a single person took a bite of the odd smelling and looking soup in their bowls. Not even Sully who was nervously looking at her own bowl of odd soup.

_Oh ho… this should be good._

I looked over to my side to see Vaike sitting next to me as he nervously played around with his food as well. I snickered silently as I had already thought of my payback for the muscled baboon.

"Hey, Vaike," I whispered silently to Vaike to catch his attention.

"What?" He asked as he continued stirring his bowl of soup.

"Bet you I can finish this stuff before you," I said trying to egg him into a competition.

"What?! You're going to eat this stuff?!" Vaike asked in an outburst.

"Yeah, I understand if you can't. It takes guts to do," I said quietly as I put a spoonful of the soup into my mouth to help convince him I was serious.

The taste was abysmal as I found it difficult not to spit the stuff out almost immediately. My eyes even almost started to water from the over spicing of the food. I, however, held on to my plain expression as I swallowed the spoonful.

Vaike looked at me with surprise as did some of the nearby Shepherds. He then looked back and forth between his bowl and me. In a stunning moment of his resolve to beat me, he picked up his bowl with his both his hands.

Vaike then exclaimed, "The Vaike has guts! Bring it on!"

I smirked at how easily he went in for my bait and dropped my spoon onto the table. I grabbed ahold of my bowl with both of my hands and raised it off the table as well. I then exclaimed, "Alright, on three! One, two, three!"

At my signal to start, Vaike put his bowl up to his lips as I did the same. He started to chug the soup down in great quantities while I merely held the bowl of soup at my lips. In a matter of seconds, Vaike had finished and slammed his bowl onto the table. He grinned victoriously as I sat my still full bowl of odd soup onto the table and congratulated the man.

"Well, you definitely proved me wrong, Vaike. Good job," I said as I clapped for his victory.

Other Shepherds that had watched the spectacle of Vaike downing the soup were amazed. They were so amazed that they actually picked up their spoons to give it a try.

_What… did I just cause?_

While others at the table took their first bites of the meal, Vaike was still grinning. He hadn't changed his expression at all nor did he ever respond to my congratulating. He sat as if he had been frozen in time. The man wasn't even blinking! Suddenly, his eyes started to uncontrollably water as the other people at the table had the same effect happening to them.

Vaike then stood up in a burst of energy as he exclaimed, "Water!"

The other foolish Shepherds that also ate some of the strange soup also sprang up from their chairs shouting the same thing. After they ran from the room trying to find the closest source of water, only Sully, Miriel, and I remained.

Sully sighed inwardly as she said, "And I almost thought I made something good."

Miriel responded to Sully's depression with, "There's always next time. Just try not to use too much capsicum in the next endeavor."

"Capi… What?" Sully asked in confusion.

"Chili peppers. You used far too much of them," Miriel stated as she exited the room herself.

"Well," Sully said as she stood up from her chair, "I'm done with this whole cooking business anyways. Just thought I'd give it another try."

She then started to pick up the remaining dishes as she looked to me and asked, "Gonna just sit there and watch a lady do all the work?"

"No, not at all!" I said as I went to assist her with the cleaning of the table.

Sully and I cleaned the dishes for the night as the other members drank from a nearby well they had nearby their HQ. None of them were exactly pleased with the ordeal quite like Vaike was. He came to me after I had finished dish duty with Sully gloating about how he beat me. I wasn't quite sure I had actually got any payback on him at all.

Despite this, the Shepherds all retired to their beds as I did as well. They had given me a room on the second floor of their HQ which was apparently where everyone's rooms were. They weren't all that large, but it's the thought that counts. The beds actually weren't all that bad. Not that it takes much for me to fall asleep anyways.

Although I did have a good idea on what would happen if I did fall asleep. I'd wake back up in my bed in the real world and I'd be faced with another little movie on my 3ds. With how things are going, I'm definitely going to need to figure out what exactly is going on.

Why is this happening? How is it happening? Is it only happening to me? Have I simply just gone bonkers? These are the questions I wanted answered as soon as possible before I find myself unable to get out of this rabbit's hole. At least, I hope there's a way out.

* * *

**There's the end of the chapter if you couldn't tell.**

**So I'd like to apologize for some of the beginning dialogue first off. As some may notice I did stick fairly close to some of it and Frederick's explanation of the exalt is a clear rip. I simply couldn't think of a lot of stuff for that scene in particular. Hopefully, this doesn't upset you guys too much. I'll try and fix it if it does.**

**Onto the training, as some may notice; sword fighting isn't exactly common knowledge to me. I don't have much knowledge on the subject but I am researching it as of the previous chapter. I'm not trying to make this fic have really realistic and detailed sword fighting but I'd like to maybe slowly upgrade to that if possible. Or maybe just improve in general. An example of my learnings through my research; you actually aren't supposed to just sit around and block! Something that Vincent has also just learned! Apparently, you are supposed to be constantly moving and be aggressive. I'll try to improve in this department as things move along. No promises though. I may just fail ultimately.  
**

* * *

**As I said I would, I'm going to be responding to some reviews now. I'm not responding to them all, but ones that I feel like I should respond to. Thanks for your reviews!**

**o realisticFantasy o: I don't mind your musing at all. In fact, I quite enjoy it because it's beneficial to me. Like your thoughts on Vincent training in the real world. I'll admit I hadn't thought of this mostly because of how I'm thinking of the future of this fic. It's still a good thought and I might have to take this idea into account for future chapters! Thanks!**

**WordBirdNerd: Funnily enough, I finished this chapter once you left your reviews so that's some perfect timing. I'm going to do these in parts so you, and I suppose others, can see what I'm responding to.**

** Chapter 1 response: For my honest answer to the honest question: I do not. The opening ended up mentioning cheesy self inserts because I had actually written multiple openings to that first chapter. One of which was in fact Vince starting to play Fire Emblem before he found himself in the game. I scrapped the idea for being too cheesy and because I had kind of done the same thing in my other fic. The thought of it still, however, leaked into my writing and I decided to leave it in. I'll admit it was pretty weird but it's merely the way I operate I suppose as you've probably already noticed. As for the no weapon situation with Auden, I had actually forgotten about this entirely until I found myself already writing the fight to whihc I merely went with it. Maybe I'll go back and add that in at some point. Finally for the fight with Auden and bandits, as I pointed out above; sword fighting isn't my forte. Hopefully, I can improve on this.**

** Chapter 2 response: Glad to know I'm not the only one that understands bears aren't crazy. To my knowledge, I believe polar bears are the only ones to be ****aggressive and even they have reason to be which is mostly out of hunger. The real world/game world can be a bit tedious I'll admit and I'm glad I managed to get through with having it show that Vince is feeling freaked out by it. I like to say it's a bit rewarding to read that. As for his reaction in the end to it, since it is essentially a SI I'll say that this would be my honest to God reaction. I wouldn't go trying to show it to somebody mostly because if it didn't show what I saw I'd look insane and feel more insane. I will say, however, that testing will surely happen in the coming chapters as could be derived from the end of this one. Plus, I must've written it to blandly but the game did in fact go back to being normal after showing the dream in the form of a game. Maybe I need to go back and add more detail to that to make it understandable. As for the mercenary thing, I did mean definitely and it was in regards to Auden.**

** Chapter 3 response: I didn't know that seeing on how I've never awoken to being carried. Thanks for the info though. For the fatal injuries, I will say that when Auden is attacking them these would be normal attacks that would obviously get a reaction from a normal person. Something that could probably even end a fight with a regular person. Perhaps I'll go back and clarify this. Also, a chop into the neck to one of the Risen was dealt by Vince. The Risen merely shrugged this attack off, however, and went back to fighting. I feel as though this reaffirms his reasoning for killing blows like ones to vital organs. As for Sully's armor, yes I did want to go for a different look. Simply put it, I dislike the crap out of both her and Stahl's armor. Their armor schemes are so similar and yet the only real difference between the two is their colors. Oh, she's the red knight while he's the green. It almost makes them feel generic. ****It's honestly lame in my opinion when you have that and then you have Frederick wearing some pretty killer armor. Even Kellam's is pretty good looking even though it only has orange streaks going through it. If I can come up with a better description for their armor. I'll go back and add it in. Until then, they're merely following Kellam's style of coloring with their old style of armor.**

**Thanks for those reviews, ****WordBirdNerd! They may have been lengthy responses and I apologize for my big mouth but I liked responding to your reviews anyways! They're definitely helpful and I hope you leave some more.**  


******This goes for everyone too. I'd like to see those reviews if you have any. Leave one and I'll definitely be grateful!**


	5. Speculations

**So besides being the most difficult chapter I've ever written, I can happily say that it is at least finally done.**

**Also, I know some don't see weeks the same so I'm going to say here that I consider Sunday as the first day of the week. Some see Monday as the first of the week, but I go with Sunday. Just getting that out there because this makes this chapter my at least one chapter for the week.**

**Anyways, going onto that Chapter now.**

**Italics will be character's thoughts and ****/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

**Speculations**

My eyes cracked opened slowly as I lay sprawled out across my bed. The familiar scenery entered my mind once again. Couch covered with random things in the corner, desk with a computer and the devil console on it in front of the window, an entertainment center opposite to that, and of course the messy floor that had all kinds of objects thrown about on top of it.

For the second time I have gone back to the regular world after spending almost more than an entire day in Fire Emblem's. Things were working exactly as I had thought they might. This wasn't some kind of strangely pieced together happening. It seemed more likely that it was a system. It was a system that followed a set of rules. Rules that were placing me into a game world when I slept and taking me back out when I slept in that world.

If that was really how it was working, then I could almost calm myself about thinking of my loss of sanity. I was almost certain that this wasn't all an illusion or some kind of hallucination now. Or at least, not one I could've created. My brain couldn't come up with such elaborately stringed together events. Events that consisted of me falling asleep, waking up in a game's world, falling back asleep, waking back up in the real world, and, to top it all off, my 3ds playing the events in the game world that I had just experienced.

Speaking of my 3ds, I sat up in my bed and eyed the devil that precariously laid itself on my desk. The thing shot fear into me just from looking at it because it was my reminder that what was going on will continue to do so. It was a reminder for me that what I had just experienced was real, and that I would be going back into its world.

While I was reluctant to do so, I willed myself to go to the handheld console and watch what it wanted me to. I was reluctant because of the thoughts that were going through my head. Like my thought of how this all worked.

_What if it won't happen again if I don't watch what's inside my 3ds? What if it would all stop if I just got rid of it? It has some sort of linkage to this so it must control something, right?_

Despite these thoughts, however, I went towards the 3ds anyways. If this is as large scaled as being able to send me into a game world, I'm certain that throwing away, or even avoiding, this 3ds won't help. It would more than likely find a way to show me what it wants and would only make things more difficult.

I picked up the device and turned it on without hesitation. My hands were shaking slightly as the console booted up the game inside it.

_What if it doesn't do anything weird? M-Maybe it's all done? Maybe I can sleep without worrying about waking up in another world._

Although I wished and wished for the 3ds to be normal, it did not heed any of these wishes. Once again, it started up its little movie of my experiences in the game world. The game focused on me this time, however. Rather than starting itself on the Shepherd in the woods like it should've, it started with Auden sitting next to a fire that he had started while I slept nearby. The firestorm started up and Auden started to carry me through it in an attempt to keep me safe. When I awoke, the gates the Risen fall out of showed up.

_The fact that the game somehow has my voice in it still creeps me out._

The events that transpired afterward were exactly the same as I remembered them. Marth saved Auden and I, we regrouped with the rest of the Shepherds, and we finally made it to Ylisstol. While the game did avoid more of the detailed parts of my experiences in the game world like the training I had with Vaike, it still followed the core parts of them.

Strangely enough, once the game seemed to be done with its movie for me it went back to the world map and I could do a few things. This was oddly different because the last time I couldn't perform a single task as the console saved the game itself and quickly restarted to go back to normal. This time, however, the game was allowing me to wander the small bit of world map that was unlocked. I could head between, Southtown, the Chapter 1 forest, and Chapter 2's location. I couldn't, however, start Chapter 2 despite me attempting this for a solid five minutes. I actually couldn't enter any location no matter how hard I tried to will it. The only things I could do were wandering around the world map and opening the menu.

The menu was extremely odd. It was odd because I could open up anything I wanted to ie: Inventroy, Barracks, etc. Most of these options shouldn't have even been present though! You could only really do supports after Chapter 1! Not that it made much difference here. They all seemed utterly useless.

I went into inventory expecting to maybe see the insides of character's pockets but all I got was bupkis! A whole lot of question marks riddled the screen as I couldn't look at what each character was holding nor could I even see their stats! Not even Supports held anything in them. Each character was devoid of others they could support. Each option provided nothing of interest to me. Not even my own character had anything in these screens. Was it the devil console's way of telling me I'm not a tactician? Or maybe it's trying to tell me that the game world I'm experiencing is more than just lines of code now.

Either way, after I fiddled around with the options of absolute uselessness, the game abruptly saved once again and restarted itself. When I was brought back to the menu of Fire Emblem: Awakening, everything was back to normal. If I so desired, I could play through one of my saves or even a new one. Nothing was odd about these files. Everything was as the game should be. No matter what I tried though the game wasn't going to fritz out on me and start playing what had just happened in the game world.

Seeing it was past its strange antics, I sat it back down on my desk and leaned back in my chair. I swiveled back and forth in my chair out of slight annoyance. I was annoyed because of the fact that I didn't have the slightest clue on how or even why any of this was happening, nor did I know how to stop it.

_Could it be that my 3ds is the cause of all this? It's the one trying to remind me of what I'm going through so how far off is the idea really?_

It sounds weird, but it could be a possibility. Maybe my 3ds was pulling me into the world of the game inside it during my sleep. To be safe I would just keep all game cartridges out of the 3ds to avoid going into any game at all, but there's the chance that's not how it works. It could end up putting me into the world of the game that was last inside it, or worse; it puts me into an empty void of nothing. In that case, while I try to figure things out, I could always put a much safer game inside it.

Considering my options, I put my money on Pokemon Y being the safest. It's a game for kids about interacting with a world full of fantasy monsters. It wouldn't be nearly as dangerous as a game filled with war like Fire Emblem. If I couldn't find myself able to survive in that, I would be in real trouble with anything else.

I decided on it, and took Fire Emblem: Awakening out of my 3ds while I replaced it with Pokemon Y.

_That would be a much nicer world to end up in than the one I got an axe cut into me._

Feeling a bit safer with the thought of being put in a Pokemon game rather than a Fire emblem one, I felt the need to think about how other things worked. Like how I'm really entering into these game worlds.

_I understand that when I fall asleep I wake up in the game world, but is that really how it's working? Maybe it's on a timer, or it could be happening at a certain time of the day. I haven't been paying attention to when all of this has been happening so this might be a good start. I woke up at about ten in the morning today so I'll keep that in mind._

_To test this out I should try and stay awake tonight. I'll go without sleep for now to see if it is directly linked with my sleeping. Sleep deprivation is worth it if I can learn a few things about these happenings._

Granted I shouldn't be trying to get used to this, but I feel as though that I should use my time in the real world wisely. I don't think I should use it as a relaxation point, but instead as a chance to improve my chances in living in whatever game world I end up in. I could learn a few things here that I couldn't in the game world.

I do have the internet here and everyone knows the internet knows everything. Alright that was obviously a lie considering I just searched how this is all happening just for the fun of it and all I got was that I'm addicted to video games.

_Stupid Google…_

Ok, maybe I can do some research on things that might benefit me in the long run. Like maybe I should look up some things that would assist me in a video game world.

I considered what I should research and went for sword fighting. Granted that there is a chance I end up in a Pokemon world knowing how to hold a sword, there is always the chance I go back to Fire Emblen: Awakening's world with this same knowledge. Knowing how to fight with a sword will be either useless or beneficial. I'd like to go with the chance of it being beneficial.

So I went ahead with researching sword fighting. What I found was fairly enlightening and might cause me to never be able to look at another sword fight in movies, or even games, the same again. There was a large amount of sword fighting that I had no prior knowledge to before now.

The first thing that surprised me was just how dirty sword fights were. Punches, stomps, grapples, and all kinds of other dirty tricks that fighters could use were all heavily present in sword fights. If it allowed them to kill their opponent, they were going to use it.

Surprisingly, Vaike was actually teaching me this. I had thought he might've just been showing me how cut throat bandits could be, but I suppose these things could generally apply to most individuals. At the very least, it applies to people that want to live in a battle. This could further be applied to people that don't generally care for honor in battles like somebody such as Chrom would try to uphold. Well, I can say that I at least am in the group of people that want to survive. If that means dirty tactics might have to be used, I will do so to live to see another day.

Another thing I've learned is a few stances. Although I didn't actually have any knowledge on this subject before so it should be assumed that I would learn something in this subject. Onto the stances, I've learned that it is important to generally spread your feet apart a good distance. About shoulder length distance is the most used distance. Most stances generally have this foot spread with your strong foot leading. This supposedly helps as when you step forward with your weak leg to swing your sword, you twist your body in the direction of your swing thus adding more force into your swing.

I've also found out about something called half sword. It's something that involves a person holding onto the central part of their sword's blade with one of their hands while they continue to hold their guard with their other hand. It provides more control, more leverage, and more powerful thrusts to a person's sword apparently. It does, however, come with its con of shortening your range though. Still, there comes a time when this is completely necessary supposedly. If you're having trouble penetrating a highly armored opponent, trying to half sword could provide enough power in your thrust to pierce into them.

_Man, people are nuts! Some of these guys try to swing their swords like hammers! They use their blades to swing with as they bash their opponents in the face with their guards! They're all crazy! _

I've also learned that it's key to not blocking anything with your sword's edge. It's key to not bash your sword's edge into things recklessly as the sword is obviously not invincible. Constant bashing of the sword's edge will leave it dull and less useful than a heavy butter knife. Blocks should never be done with the edge to avoid this.

_Ugh… All this research… It's already dark… W-Whoa! Is it really three in the morning?! Jeez… Why'd nobody pull me from this? Wait. I wasn't pulled. I'm still in the real world!_

I was still in deed living in the real world instead of Fire Emblem's. I know for a fact that I had fallen asleep much earlier than midnight in the last two occurrences so that meant at least one thing; it had to be linked to my sleep. It wasn't a matter of when it happened. All that mattered was that I fell asleep. This would mean that so long as I stayed awake, I would remain in the real world and never go back to the game's world. Although this isn't that good of a thing to find out. Sleep is kind of a necessity for me being able to continue living healthy.

Still, if it wasn't a case of when it would happen that left, why, how, and where. Why and how would be fairly difficult considering the complexity of the situation. How is equally, if not even harder, to understand. Where, however, was a good start to something. By this I mean where these events are happening. So far, they've all transpired in my room and more importantly in my bed. There was the chance that my bed was the devil bed and that it was working in close relations to the devil handheld console that was my 3ds. Ok, that may be stretching it, but isn't there still a chance that my bed somehow got turned into some kind of interdimensional sleep traveling device? Maybe. Just maybe. Or maybe I've gone insane in my attempts of actual research.

Because of my paranoia of my own bed and my desire to somewhat give it a test, I decided to sleep on the living room couch downstairs. Quite frankly, the couch was actually more comfortable than my bed. I had to wonder why I didn't just sleep on the couch all the time. Probably because it's not normal I'd imagine.

The comforts of the couch relaxed me as I prepped myself for what could come next. My drained mind then quickly drifted off into slumber.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

I awoke groggily to an eerily silent room, but I paid the silence no mind. What I did pay attention to was the fact that this silent room happened to not be my living room. It was my room I had just been given by the Shepherds. My day was starting in Fire Emblem: Awakening once again.

_I should really stop being surprised by this considering how often it'll probably be happening in the future. That is, if I don't find a way to stop it in the near future._

_Also, I should really be thinking a bit more about what I should be doing in this world. Since I finally have a chance to sit and think about that, I had might as well do so now._

I got up from my bed in a slow motion and perform a satisfying stretch before fully getting off my bed.

_Should I try to change the plot? Besides being the most dangerous thing to consider doing, I doubt I could actually perform some of those changes. Like rescuing Emmeryn. I doubt that I could do a thing in that situation. Not to mention I'm not entirely sure it would be worth the trouble. I mean, she apparently shows up again without her memory. Granted losing her memory is a pretty big deal and I would be preventing that in saving her, but I could throw the whole world in another direction if I were to do that. It's an insane risk._

After getting off my bed, I grabbed my sword off the ground and strapped it to my side again. With my sword secured to my side, I exited out of my room and into the silent hallway. I then started to make my way for the stairs to head downstairs.

_Maybe I could just lay low. Hide it out until the game's plot is over. Who knows? It may be my ticket out of here if the game is beaten. I mean, is it even possible for this world to carry on without any plot? Granted my own world doesn't have a plot so a game's could very well continue just the same._

I made it to the stairs and slowly walked down them while I was still in deep thought. The bottom floor turned out to be just as quiet as the second. There appeared to only be Miriel by what I could see and she seemed to be saying something to me.

"So you are awake. I was just about to rouse you from your slumber like Vaike should have done," Miriel stated while pushing her glasses up.

I, however, was paying little to no attention at all to her conversation so I only caught bits and pieces of it. I was more prioritized in what I was thinking about to listen to her, but I still tried to respond.

"Huh? Oh… Morning, Miriel," I said as I finished walking down the steps and onto the first floor.

_If I do end up sticking around with the Shepherds, I should seriously think about getting some kind of armor. These clothes are hardly going to keep my body in one piece!_

"Morning to you as well. Well, since you're already awake I'll communicate the message to you now. The rest of the Shepherds have already instigated the march for Regna Ferox. We, however, are trailing behind," Miriel said as she walked towards the front door.

Again, I hardly paid any mind to anything she was saying.

_I should go out and buy some armor. Like some kind of shoulder armor! Yeah, that would be great for avoiding axes!_

"Hm? The march? Oh, yeah, yeah. I already know about that," I said in a dismissing manner.

"You do? Well, that makes this less complicated. Can I trust you to notify Stahl? He doesn't know either and I'd like to catch up to the assemblage as fast as possible," Miriel said as she opened the door and stepped outside it.

"Stahl? Yeah, yeah. I'll tell Stahl about… that," I said while I continued to be lost in deep thought.

"Excelent. I'll head out now. If I reach them before you two, I'll have them wait," Miriel said before fully exiting out the front door and closing it behind her.

_Yeah, yeah. Head out already. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Gear. I should go out and buy some gear. Wait. Better yet, I should see if this place has any free gear. Free stuff is always better than stuff that costs actual money._

I started my search to find some kind of gear in the Shepherd's HQ. Without much to go by for a base point of my search, I simply wandered into rooms that I felt could hold what I was looking for.

Funnily enough, I did find something of interest. Well, at least it looked interesting before I really looked at it. It was a book with some kind of strange writing on it. There were some other books with the same kind of writing on it except in different colors. There was yellow, red, and even a green one. They looked interesting at first, but when I came to realize that I couldn't read a thing that was written in them I quickly realized how useless they were to me.

_Stupid other worlds with their weird writing. How come they speak English but their writing is Greek to me!? Well, I should be thankful they don't speak Japanese like I'm pretty sure they should be considering it was the original language for the game. Wait, wait. What the hell am I going on about what language these characters should be speaking?! I'm looking for gear! Fuck books!_

After realizing just how much time I had just wasted trying to hopelessly read some alien books, I returned to my original endeavors in finding some useful gear. Seemingly, this was pointless as most of what appeared to be the Shepherd's armory looked to be recently scavenged. Not even a simple shield was left in its confines. I was lucky to find a few swords. But even they weren't going to provide any use to me.

_What does a guy have to do to find something useful around here?!_

"You looking for something, Vincent?" Stahl asked from behind me causing me to slightly jump from the sudden intrusion.

"H-Huh? Oh, Stahl… Yeah, I was looking around for some gear. Was kind of hoping to find something around here," I said as I returned my gaze to the empty armory.

"Hm…" Stahl said as he observed the empty armory while eating what looked like a muffin in his hand, "Yeah, weird… Looks like we've run out of spare gear again."

"Is this a common occurrence?" I asked as he continued to look around the armory.

"No, usually Frederick keeps us well stocked. It's pretty unlike him to let us run out like this," Stahl said as he ended his observations of the armory.

"So then what do I do if I want some gear?!" I asked in a panic.

Stahl laughed silently at my panic as he calmly said after taking another bite of his food, "Well, you could always head down to Rowan's shop. He gives us Shepherds a pretty good deal. It's right on the edge of the capitol near the eastern gate."

I sighed inwardly in relief to know that there was at least somewhere for me to grab some kind of gear.

"That would be good. I'll go there then," I said before exiting the armor room with Stahl in tow.

We went our separate ways in the building when Stahl was interested in going to the kitchen to catch breakfast. Supposedly, Maribelle was baking all kinds of different goodies and that was where he had grabbed the muffin he had.

_I would have to give Maribelle's baking a try when I returned if she would allow me to._

Surprisingly, it actually didn't take long to find Rowen's shop. It was indeed near the eastern gate of Ylisstol. It also helped that there was a large sign with his name on it directing people's attention to his shop.

Without a second thought, I went inside to explore the different things that I could purchase. I had chosen everything that I would want to buy when it all hit me. I had zero money to pay for anything. Not a single gold piece to my name. This resulted in my… groveling… to the store owner.

"L-Look, isn't there some way that I could get that stuff?" I asked while I clasped my hands together in front of me before bowing my head.

"Can't say I know of it if there is one, kid," Rowen said as he crossed his arms.

_There it is again…_

"You could work here for a few days if you're really hurting for some gold. I'd say… maybe three days of work 'round here would cover it," he said as he wiped his finger across his wooden counter to inspect the level of dust on it.

"But I can't do that! I really don't have the time for that! Can't you give me some kind of discount for being a Shepherd?!" I asked him desperately.

The word Shepherd seemed to hit a light in the man as his face lit up.

"Oh! You're a Shepherd, eh? Come to think about it, I do believe I saw you with Sully the other day. You a new recruit, kid?" he asked me with a grin now after uncrossing his arms.

_Finally, something that'll go MY way for once._

His sudden happiness of hearing about me being a Shepherd calmed me down as well as I was able to regain my composure. I stated calmly, "Yeah, I just joined yesterday. I was told that you were the shop to go to if I needed some gear."

This struck more buttons in the man as he was almost glowing brighter than a Christmas tree. Rowen said joyfully, "They pointed you in the right direction, my friend! For a Shepherd I can do… half price!"

_Half price?!_

"You're still going to charge me?!" I asked as I fell out of my calm state I was easing into.

"Well, of course I am. I hope you understand. I'm running a business here. I can't go giving out supplies. It's bad for my pockets!" he said as his grin vanished.

_This guy and Anna would probably see pretty close to eye to eye._

Seeing that I've exhausted all my options and that my hopes were completely blown out, I turned around to exit the store with my head hung low. Rowen might've shouted something as I was leaving, but I paid it no mind as it probably wasn't going to add any gold to my empty pockets.

_Oh how poor I am. Poor me. Not a single gold piece even to chew on. I'll probably never know the feeling of this world's currency. Not even the smell- Hello? This guy is shoving a pouch in my face. Oh. He's talking. Should probably pay attention to that._

"You're in need of some financial help, right? Well?" the man in a cloak in front of me continued to ask as he held a pouch of what sounded like gold in front of me.

Oh how poor I am. Poor me. Not a single gold piece even to chew on. I'll probably never know the feeling of this world's currency. Not even the smell- Hello? This guy is shoving a pouch in my face. Oh. He's talking. Should probably pay attention to that.

"You're in need of some financial help, right? Well?" the man in a cloak in front of me continued to ask as he held a pouch of what sounded like gold in front of me.

"U-Um… Yeah, I am, but you're not… giving this to me, are you?" I asked feeling skeptical of the situation.

"You're a Shepherd, right? I heard you in there. The Shepherds helped save me once upon a time and I'd like to repay my debt by helping you!" he said as he forced the pouch into my hands.

Not fully understanding the situation, I took the pouch only because of how quick things were happening.

"Thanks? Yeah, um… thanks. Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Oh, we can talk later. Just go and have fun with that for now," he said as he spun me around to face Rowen's shop that I had just recently walked out of.

He pushed me forward and into the shop subsequently. I didn't really know what to do about the situation. Some random man just gave me money to help me. I should be really happy, but I oddly don't. I feel… neutral?... about this whole thing. I'm ecstatic, but I'm feeling suspicious.

_Ok, paranoia, shut up. The guy could really have been just a helpful person. Why does his generosity have to be suspicious? Just enjoy the fact that you have some money now._

I went ahead and purchased some of the discounted gear that Rowen had set aside for me. Surprisingly, I was given enough to buy two thirds of what I wanted. About a few hundred gold pieces to purchase a few pieces of gear.

What I bought included a pair of leather gauntlets, and a single brigantine pauldron. Not a long list, right? Well, that's because I'm fucking broke and couldn't afford the vest! I couldn't even buy a shield damnit!

_I hate this stupid economy! _

Either way, I was pleased to get something. Gauntlets would help in upcoming sword fights so that I don't go cutting my hands every two seconds and the shoulder gear would protect one of my shoulders. More specifically, it would protect my left shoulder since I'm right handed and would be better at protecting my right side rather than my left.

First thing I was eager to put on was the pauldron.

_Fuck you axes!_

It was only studded leather essentially, but that was still better than simple cloth. I strapped on the gray pauldron with joy as I felt slightly safer with the cover it provided to my left shoulder. The next thing I put on was the gray gauntlets. They were made out of leather so they were fairly easy to wear and they covered my hands and my forearm up to my elbow.

I exited Rowen's shop again, this time with my newly purchased gear. Also, I didn't exit feeling defeated, Actually, I felt extremely pleased with how well things seemed to have worked out. Before I could take another step away from Rowen's shop, however, I was stopped once again by the same cloaked man that handed me money in the first place.

I wanted to get a look at what the guy looked like, but his cloak's hood shrouded his face too well from my eyes.

"I see you've already spent that gold! You sure aren't one for saving, are ya?" he asked sarcastically as he laughed slightly.

"Hey, thanks again. I couldn't have bought this stuff it weren't for you. Could you tell me your name now?" I asked him for the second time.

"Oh! I had almost forgot! How rude of me! The name's Thomas," the cloaked individual said as he removed his hood.

He had shaggy black hair and looked to be no older than my age.

"Well, thanks, Thomas. It's much appreciated," I said as I extended my hand to him for a handshake.

He accepted my hand and shook it in his as he said, "Ahaha. I really couldn't help myself when I heard you were a Shepherd. You guys do so much for us. It's only right that we try to help you guys."

"So you said the Shepherds saved you? I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly happened?" I asked as I started up in a walk expecting him to follow.

"Oh, I have no problem telling about it," Thomas said as he started to follow me in my walk, "I had gotten held up on the way to the capitol a couple of months ago by some Plegian bandits. Luckily for me, your Captain and a few other Shepherds were passing by at roughly the same time."

Thomas then had his head hang slightly forward as he said in a slightly depressed tone, "They were… um… going to capture me. Sell me as a slave, you know? If it weren't for you guys, I'd probably be locked up in some cage like an animal right now."

_Ouch. There's slavery in this world? Well, it's nice to hear that at least Thomas here isn't in that portion of the world._

"Well, uh… Glad to hear that didn't happen!" I said in a way to try and lighten the mood. Also, I had no idea what to realistically say to a person that was almost caught as a slave.

"Oh, yeah! It really was the best thing to happen to me! It also helped me decide on what I really want to be in life!" Thomas said enthusiastically after he lifted his head back up.

"Oh? What would that be?" I asked.

"To be a Shepherd of course!" Thomas said with a smirk.

_Wow… Why didn't I see that coming?_

"How is it anyway? B-Being a Shepherd I mean," Thomas asked sheepishly.

_Huh? Is being a Shepherd kind of like being a celebrity in this country? I guess it is. It's a pretty good feeling, I'd say._

"Um… It's… pretty cool so far. I wouldn't really know that much considering I only actually joined yesterday," I answered nervously while scratching my head in embarrassment.

"You're lucky… I… I could never do what you guys do," Thomas said shyly.

_What?!_

"B-But you just said you wanted to be a Shepherd! Being a Shepherd kind of requires doing what they do!" I said.

"Well… you see... that's kind of why I haven't tried to join yet. The fighting… I'm just not sure I could handle it," Thomas said.

_Oh… I can see what he's talking about. Being a Shepherd requires having to fight. It'll probably even require killing some people on the battlefield. Honestly, even I don't know if I could handle killing another yet. It takes guts to do what the Shepherds do._

"Hey, don't sweat it," I said as I placed my hand onto Thomas' shoulder, "I'm sure you'll figure out something. And, if you want to, swing by the Shepherd's HQ today. I can probably get the same guy that's training me to help you!"

_I'm sure if Vaike could help me then he could more than definitely help out Thomas here!_

"Huh? There's more of you still at your guy's HQ?" Thomas asked with a confused look.

"Uh… Yeah… Why wouldn't there be?" I asked feeling confused as well.

"Well, I just saw your Captain and a whole lot of the other Shepherds heading out the West gate earlier today. I was just under the assumption that maybe you were the only one that was left there," Thomas answered.

_They left? Where the hell would they be going? Wait. Wasn't I told about this? Shit. Come on brain! Work with me here! Oh! I remember now! Wait… This is terrible! Absolutely terrible!_

"Shit!" I shouted in sudden realization, "We got left behind!"

My sudden change in demeanor stunned Thomas slightly. Before I went rushing back to the Shepherd's HQ, I told Thomas, "Hey, thanks for the reminder, but I've gotta go now! I've got to catch up to them! If you'd like, you can go hang out at our HQ! Just tell whoever's there that I sent you!"

My body then broke into a full sprint as I rushed back to the Shepherd's HQ. I ignored any kind of obstacle in my way as I rushed to get Stahl as fast as I could.

_How could I forget about this crap!? Damnit! Miriel! She was even trying to tell me about this I bet! Shit. If she already left, then Stahl and I will be extremely late!_

I busted through the front door to the Shepherd's HQ and looked around my immediate surrounding for any signs of Stahl. Luckily, I find him relaxing on one of the various crates with a slice of cake on a plate in his hands. He was thoroughly enjoying the pastry in front of him until I busted in to the room.

"Stahl, stop eating!" I shouted as I stood panting from my run.

He dropped the plate and the slice of cake on it to the ground without a second delay. He did, however, continue to chew whatever amount of food he had left in his mouth before he asked, "What's going on?"

"We've been left behind, Stahl!" I said.

"What?! W-What do you mean?!" Stahl asked as he lost his mellow attitude.

"Chrom… the others… they're all heading to Regna Ferox without us!" I said as I tried to catch my breath.

"They left?! How come I wasn't told about this march?!" Stahl asked as he got up from the crate he was sitting on.

_Well… it was my fault kind of… but it's mostly Vaike's! That doesn't matter right now though!_

"That doesn't matter! What does matter is they're probably almost hallway there by now! We gotta get going!" I said as I tried to get Stahl moving.

"H-Hang on! The stables!" Stahl said as he seemed to have some kind of idea.

I followed him out back and into the stables in a hurry. Both of us were going about ninety miles an hour as we ran into the stables slightly spooking the horses in them.

Stahl grabbed two horses that were saddled up and handed me one of their reins.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" he asked while he was handing me the reins.

_He expects me to ride a horse!?_

"I-I've only rode one once and that was hardly even anything!" I answered him while taking the reins from him.

_Seriously, it was at my grandpa's house and it wasn't even at a trot I'd say! Plus, that was years ago!_

"Well, there's no time like the present to learn," Stahl said with a smirk as he got up on his horse.

_Right… No time like the present… Nice horsy… Good horsy… Please let me get on you horsy…_

I placed my left foot into the stirrup on the saddle and held the reins tightly in my left hand. I then placed my right hand onto the saddle as I got ready to hop myself up and onto it. When I felt that I was ready, I hopped myself up and onto the saddle as I swung my other leg over to the other side of the horse.

_Ok, not too bad. Crap! Sit up straight! Don't slouch!_

I caught myself from losing my balance on the horse's saddle as I remembered to sit up straight on it.

"Ok, at least you're on it. That's half the battle right there!" Stahl said with an amused look.

"Yeah? Well, this is more than half of what I even know!" I answered back.

"You know how to get him going? Just squeeze your feet together on his sides. He'll know what you mean," Stahl said as he trotted his horse out of the stables and stopped outside it to wait for me.

_Ok, um… Squeeze my feet… Right… How hard could… Whoa!_

I did as Stahl instructed me, but I might've squeezed too hard or too fast because the horse took it as a sign to go a bit faster than a slow trot. I was caught off guard by this as I was forced to pull back on the reins. This confused the horse even more as it tried to turn around. I then remembered that I should probably stop squeezing the horse's sides to get him to stop faster.

Stahl looked at me in confusion as I was barely out the front of the stables and almost heading back in them as he said, "Yeah, this could be difficult."

"No, no! I got this! It's all… just… a little hard to get used to!" I said as I tried to get the horse to face Stahl. Somehow, I was successful in this department.

"Ok, um… Try a trot again?" Stahl said as a suggestion.

I did again try to get the horse to trot to Stahl and was actually successful in this department. I even managed to get the horse to stop near Stahl and his horse.

"Alright! This is good!" Stahl said as he smirked.

"While I'd like to really teach you how to ride the horse, we really don't have time to be doing that. So I'll go over basics!" Stahl continued to say.

"Well, there's the canter which could be what we use for a lot of this trip just to not burn out our horses. That involves using your right leg to push into your horse's side instead of both of your legs," Stahl said as he showed me an example of his horse cantering.

I tried the same thing and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might've been. It could be that these horses are just well trained in recognizing these simple commands or that I'm just a natural. I'll go with the former. The only thing I have to worry about is keeping my balance really.

Stahl then explained how to get the horse to gallop as well and he gave me an example of his horse galloping before he came back.

I did as I saw him do, and found the gallop to be very difficult. I had to hold myself up straight on my own with only my feet in the stirrups and my butt off the saddle. Also, I had to keep the reins length short so that the horse could lower his head into the gallop. I'll probably enjoy not having to gallop.

"Ok, that's… probably good enough," Stahl said as he scratched his head.

"Probably?!" I asked loudly in doubt.

"Well, you'll at least probably not going to fall off the horse," Stahl said with a nervous smile at my obvious concern for my own safety.

I sighed inwardly as I then said, "Ok, so are we going to go now?"

"That's the thing…. Do you even know where in Regna Ferox they were heading?" Stahl asked.

We stared at each other in silence as neither of us fully understood where they were heading. There was only the knowledge of the kingdom they were heading to and its border was massive! There could be any number of ways that might've taken to get into Regna Ferox!

"W-Wait!" I said as I remembered, "I know the path they're probably taking! Do you have a map?"

_Please let them be taking the game's path… please…_

Stahl pulled out a map he kept along with something for me to draw the path on it. The map actually was very close to the game's world map that you're constantly running across. It made drawing the path a thousand times easier as I had looked at it on my 3ds so many times. I handed the map back to Stahl with the path that I was certain they were taking as he studied it.

"Alright, we can follow this and we might catch up to them or…" Stahl said as he pocketed the map.

"Or?!" I asked wanting to know the rest of what he was saying.

"Or we get lost and freeze to death in the cold weather up in the north!" Stahl said with a grin as he was obviously unaffected by what he just said.

I, on the other hand, was extremely affected by his words.

_Freezing to death does not sound fun!_

"Can we not talk about dying and just get going?" I asked wanting to get going.

"Well, we could also get ambushed by some Plegian b-"Stahl continued to go about the ways we could die before I cut him off.

"Let's go!" I shouted not wanting to hear the rest of what he was saying.

We then quickly rode our horses onto the path that I had drawn on the map with Stahl leading. Our goal was to catch up to the others as fast as possible. There wasn't even time for us to say goodbye to Maribelle or Ricken. We had already wasted enough time lying around. If we were to catch up, we would have to focus on nothing but travel.

_Hopefully we catch them before they get engaged with the Risen. It'll be even worse if they make it past Regna Ferox's border before we catch up to them! God, why couldn't I have been off catching Pokemon instead of this?_

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Ylisstol was a sizeable group of Plegian bandits. They had set up a small camp far out of sight of the city to avoid detection. They were even at the ends of the forest to the west of the city to provide better cover.

The population of the bandit camp went about rudimentary tasks that would keep them well prepared for an engagement. Some were sharpening blades, others were training on small practice dummies and there was even a few that were taking the time to get in a good workout.

They were all keeping themselves well busy as they seemed to not want to be caught slacking by their leader. Their leader actually seemed to look fairly weaker than the smallest of the bandits. He wore a red cloak that covered his entire body in it. He kept his face hidden underneath the hood as he wandered around his camp scolding anybody that might've been slacking.

Suddenly a person came rushing to the camp and stopped once he reached the camp's leader's side. The individual in question wore a cloak as well, but his seemed more torn than the leader's. He pulled off his cloak's hood to reveal that he had pale skin and shaggy black hair.

"I'm… back…" the man with shaggy black hair said in between breaths.

The bandit leader turned to the man and said in a calm tone, "Oh? You're back you say? I hadn't noticed, Thomas."

The man named Thomas held up his hands in defense as he said, "I-I d-didn't mean to offend! I was merely… u-uh…"

"Stating the obvious as usual," the leader said exhausted.

"U-Um… Yeah! My apologies, but I have useful information!" Thomas said as he tried to calm himself.

"Useful? Last time you had "useful" information you merely told me that the Shepherds were heading "somewhere". I do hope this is more useful than that. Remember what I told you, Thomas," the leader stated as he slowly drew a dagger out of his cloak to hold in front of himself.

This caused Thomas to slightly shake in fear as he tried to say, "I-It is useful though! I-I know how we can find the other ones!"

"Oh, really?" the leader inquired.

"Yeah, there's going to be more Shepherds heading out!" Thomas stated proudly.

"That's your information?" the leader questioned Thomas as he took a step closer to the young man.

By now, the entire camp was watching the scene that was unfolding. They were certain of what Thomas' fate would be, but they didn't dare to interfere. If they did, they would gain the same fate as their friend.

"Y-Yes. That's what I got… I-It's good enough… right?" Thomas asked as he took a step away from the bandit leader.

"You're telling me that they're simply heading out. Something that is almost in dead similarity to your last bit of "useful" information. Do you think this is actually useful information?" the leader inquired as he placed his dagger's blade against Thomas' neck.

"W-Well, I mean it's a starting point!" Thomas said worriedly.

"Answer my question, Thomas. Is it useful?" he asked as he pressed the blade harder against Thomas' neck causing it to cut into his neck slightly.

"N-N-No…" Thomas said as he tried to ignore the pain coming from his now bleeding neck.

"And what did I tell you Thomas? If you wasted my time one more time, I was going to cut your tongue out so that you could never do it again…" the leader said intimidatingly.

"B-But I-" Thomas started to say before his leader pushed him back.

Thomas was stunned to see that his leader didn't go through with what he told him he would do. He was being spared.

"I would gladly rip your tongue out here and now, but if they are indeed heading out; then we could perhaps track them. Do you know which direction they'll be going?," the leader said in a friendly tone.

"U-Uh… Yeah! I told one of them that their leader went out the west gate! They should go out that way!" Thomas answered almost enthusiastically.

"Well, then they should be going right past us. Keep your eyes peeled. If you spot them, I promise not to chop off your tongue," the leader stated.

Thomas was then put on watch for the two Shepherds. He hoped and prayed that they would be going by them or he would be in boiling water with his leader. Seconds seemed like minutes, and minutes seemed like hours to Thomas. He could feel the burning eyes of his leader on him as he kept watch.

In only a few minutes, the sounds of two individuals riding on horses echoed through the woods. When the bandits looked in the direction of the source, they saw the two individuals rushing through the forest they had set up camp in. They were quickly making a turn to start heading northeast.

"There! Those are both Shepherds! I'm sure of it!" Thomas said as he pointed towards the two horse riders.

"Very good, Thomas," the leader said as he wrapped his arm around Thomas to pull him closer to him, "and you avoided losing your tongue. Congrats"

"T-Thank y-" Thomas started to say before he was cut off.

He was cut off by his leader stabbing a knife directly into his gut. The resulting pain caused Thomas to drop to his knees clutching the knife in his stomach.

"B-But I thought…" Thomas said.

"What? Your tongue is perfectly fine. I never promised to not punish you, however. Now, why don't you hurry up and die?" the leader stated coldly.

In a blink of the eye, the bandit leader stabbed his dagger straight into Thomas' chest. The resulting blow killed the young man instantly as he slumped to the side. The leader then turned away from the boy as he muttered, "Useless."

"Let this be a message to you all that I'm not afraid to pick out those that are holding our little group back," the bandit leader said as he pointed his dagger at his assemblage.

"Well? Get to work! We aren't going to track anything if we don't have anybody tracking!" the leader shouted to his group which caused them all to jump to work in tracking the two Shepherd's horses that just passed them by.

"A little blood from the royals, eh? Tch. This'll be too easy," the bandit leader thought of his job in amusement.

* * *

**Again, this was insanely hard for me to write. I must've rewritten this thing about four times or so. One of my previous versions of this was insanely different and was practically ready to be uploaded. ****Still, things went pretty smoothly and I believe this one is far better than it's past selves. **

**So... if anybody wants to shoot me a name for that bandit leader, you're more than welcome to. I know it must be pretty weird that I named a dude that just got killed off and not the leader, but a name wasn't sticking out to me for him so I left him nameless. Obviously we;ll be seeing the leader again so a name would help.**

**Not really any character interactions considering most of them are already gone so there's that. Also, no real battle as of yet. I will say that if the next chapter actually goes as planned that there will be a rather large one.**

**I don't really know what else to put here because I'm too drained to actually think. Whatever. Sleep.**

**Update: Changed up the scene with Vincent and the man that handed him money aka Thomas. I updated this scene thanks to Guardian54 pointing out how obvious Thomas being a spy was. This wasn't my intention so I tried to fix this. Hopefully this updated scene is better than the original, or at least I hope that it's a step in the right direction. If you think that it's any better or maybe worse, please let me know. I'll probably get it right one day.**

**Don't forget to leave a review. Also, If you have any questions, or maybe ideas, don't be afraid to send them in a PM.**


End file.
